Square unit - Hunnic tribes Kidarites Sassanian style, Shapur III imitation, unknown mint

The Kidarites occupied a peculiar position in late 4th-century Central Asia — former vassals of the Kushano-Sassanians who carved out their own power precisely as Sassanian authority in Bactria collapsed. Shapur III, whose style this piece imitates, reigned only from 383 to 388 AD, making the chronological overlap with Kidarite independent production extremely tight.

The unknown mint attribution reflects a genuine gap: Kidarite administrative geography remains poorly mapped, and die studies on copper issues of this type are thin. Square copper fractions of this weight class circulated alongside imitative silvers in a region where political authority and monetary legitimacy were effectively the same negotiation.