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Unknown Æ Uncertain Sogdian mint, Southern Sogdian or Northern Tokharistan
| Issuer | Uncertain Sogdian mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 601-701 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 1.17 g |
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| Obverse description | Bust of a ruler facing right in low relief, depicted within a beaded border. The figure appears heavily worn, with broad shoulders and a schematic rendering characteristic of late Sogdian coinage of the 7th century. The face is rendered in profile with minimal detail surviving due to wear. The field is flat and unadorned aside from the central effigy. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A horse passant or prancing to the right, depicted in a stylized manner typical of Sogdian and Northern Tokharistan coinage of the 7th century CE. The animal is rendered with upraised foreleg and visible tail, surrounded by a beaded border. The reverse field is otherwise plain. The design reflects strong Central Asian artistic traditions and iconographic parallels found across the Transoxiana region during this period. |
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| Additional information |
Sogdiana's political fragmentation in the seventh century meant coin production was distributed across dozens of semi-autonomous city-states and feudal lords, each operating independent mints with no centralizing authority imposing uniformity. Attribution of these small bronzes remains genuinely contested — the boundary between "Southern Sogdian" and "Northern Tokharistan" issues is still being argued in specialist literature, with die studies and find-spot data occasionally pulling in opposite directions.
The weight places this piece at the lighter end of the local Æ spectrum, consistent with the gradual debasement pressures that accompanied the Arab conquest's disruption of traditional Sogdian trade networks after 650.