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!
India-Ancient
| Issuer | Mauryan Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 200 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Karshapana (322 BC to 185 BC) |
| 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 | Irregular flat field bearing multiple punch-marked symbols applied at different orientations, characteristic of late Mauryan karshapana coinage of the 2nd century BC. A prominent sun or radiate symbol with diverging rays is visible at the upper centre of the flan, accompanied by a six-armed or taurine symbol to the left and additional smaller banker's marks or royal punches distributed across the field. The symbols are incuse, each applied individually by separate dies, resulting in the overlapping, asymmetric arrangement typical of punch-marked coinage. No legends or inscriptions are present; the iconographic vocabulary is purely symbolic. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The punch-marked silver coinage of the Mauryan Empire is among the earliest standardized currency produced on the Indian subcontinent, issued under a state monetary system described in Kautilya's Arthashastra — a treatise that specified the duties of mint officials, acceptable silver purity, and penalties for counterfeiting. The karshapana denomination circulated across one of the largest empires of the ancient world, stretching from modern Afghanistan to Bengal.
By 200 BC the Mauryan state itself was dissolving; the last emperor, Brihadratha, was assassinated by his own general Pushyamitra Shunga around 185 BC. Coins from this terminal phase are difficult to attribute with precision, as punch-marking continued under successor regional powers using inherited Mauryan dies.