Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Dinar - Varahan Kushanshah II - Peroz III 3rd version, Kushano-Sassanian style, unknown mint
| Issuer | Kidarite Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 350 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Bactrian |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Depiction of the Hindu deity Shiva accompanied by his sacred bull Nandi, rendered in the syncretic Kushano-Sassanian artistic tradition that blends Iranian and Indian iconographic elements. The composition reflects the strong influence of Indian religious imagery adopted by Kidarite rulers on their coinage. The design is contained within a beaded border, with the figures executed in the characteristic hammered relief of the series. The pairing of Shiva and Nandi served as a potent divine symbol of royal legitimacy and protection for the issuing ruler. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Kidarites displaced the Kushano-Sassanians across Bactria and the northwestern subcontinent sometime in the mid-fourth century, and their coinage reflects this transition in layers — Kushano-Sassanian types were adopted wholesale, then gradually modified. This piece belongs to that awkward middle period, still largely indistinguishable in format from its predecessors, which is precisely why attribution remains contested and the mint unidentified.
Göbl's sequencing of the Kushanshah series remains the scholarly foundation here, though the chronology of Kidarite rule is still disputed by decades in either direction.