Drachm

The Maitrakas established themselves at Valabhī in Gujarat after the collapse of Gupta imperial authority in the western provinces, ruling as a post-Gupta successor state from roughly the late fifth century onward. Their silver-alloy coinage follows a degraded tradition inherited from the Western Kshatrapas, whose own drachm types had themselves descended from Saka and ultimately Hellenistic prototypes — a chain of imitation spanning several centuries by the time these billon pieces were struck.

Mitchiner WI#258 places this type at the transitional moment when Valabhī was consolidating regional power but before the dynasty's prolific copper issues dominated local exchange.