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Drachm - Kujula copy Kushana Imitative Type
| Issuer | Kushan Empire |
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| Year | 40-100 |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Crude bust of the ruler facing right in the Kushano-Parthian imitative tradition, with schematically rendered facial features and indistinct drapery on the shoulder. The portrait, heavily stylized and degenerate compared to its Parthian prototypes, occupies the central field of this small, irregularly struck copper flan. Surface patination and wear obscure fine detail, though the general outline of the royal effigy remains discernible. |
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| Reverse description | Standing male figure depicted frontally with one arm extended outward, rendered in a highly schematic and degenerate style characteristic of late Kujula Kadphises imitative coinage. The figure's posture loosely echoes Parthian royal or divine iconography, though the artistic execution is crude and the details are largely abstracted. The field is flat and heavily patinated, with no clearly legible legend present. |
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| Additional information |
Kujula Kadphises founded the Kushan Empire by unifying the five Yueban tribes sometime in the first century AD, and his earliest copper issues were deliberate imitations of Hermaeus, the last Greek king of Bactria — a calculated political move to claim legitimacy by association with the preceding Hellenistic order. This piece belongs to that imitative tradition, struck in the smallest denominations that would have passed through the hands of ordinary subjects across the Hindu Kush.
Mitchiner catalogues considerable die variation within this type, and attribution between official Kujula issues and contemporary local copies can be genuinely difficult at this weight class.