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!

Lead units - Rudrasena III

Issuer Western Satraps (Indo-Scythian Kingdom)
Year 348-378
Type Log in to see details
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 Square (irregular)
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 Humped bull standing to the right within a dotted square border, rendered in low relief in the characteristic schematic style of late Western Satrap coinage. The flan is irregular and slightly convex, with the surface showing the characteristic pitting and texture typical of cast lead blanks. The dotted border frames the central device on all four sides. The overall execution is bold but somewhat crude, consistent with the peripheral lead coinage of the dynasty.
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 286
(Translation: Saka Era 286)
Edge Log in to see details
Mint Log in to see details
Mintage Log in to see details
Additional information

Rudrasena III ruled during a period of sustained pressure on the Western Satraps from the expanding Gupta Empire to the east — pressure that would ultimately eradicate the dynasty entirely within a generation of his reign. Lead coinage of this type circulated in the lower tiers of the regional economy, where silver was too valuable for small transactions and bronze apparently insufficient for local preference. The Pieper reference range here spans two discrete groupings, suggesting at least two distinct die sequences were in production during his tenure.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE