old coins of india

OLD COINS OF INDIA

               Coins Collection Gallery is a place where you can find information such as coins of different countries, the value, tips and trick, etc.

 

Coinage of India, issued by Imperial dynasties and smaller middle kingdoms of India began during the 1st millennium BC, and consisted mainly of copper and silver coins in its initial stage.Scholars remain divided over the origins of Indian coinage. What is known, however, is that metal currency was minted in India well before the Mauryan empire (322–185 BC),and as radio carbon dating indicates, before the 5th century BC.
The tradition of Indian coinage was further enriched by the coming of Islam. The East India Company introduced uniform coinage in the 19th century, and these coins were later imitated by the modern nation states of Republic of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Numismatics plays a valuable role in determining certain period of Indian history.

 

Kuntala Janapada, 600-400 BC, Double Karshapana, 6.20g, Archaic Pulley with Treskelis Symbol,    Scyphate & Uniface

 

Varaha (Vishnu Avatar) on a Pratihara coin (850-900 AD).

 

Post Maha Janapadas period (400 BC—200 AD)

                           Early coins of India (400 BC—100 A.D.) were made of silver and copper, and bore animal and plant symbols on them. Coinage of Indo-Greek kingdom began to increasing influence coins from other regions of India by the 1st century BCE. By this time a large number of tribes, dynasties and kingdoms began issuing their coins; Prākrit legends began to appear. The Mauryan coins were punch marked with the royal standard to ascertain their authenticity. The Arthashastra, written by Kautilya, mentions minting of coins but also indicates that the violation of the Imperial Maurya standards by private enterprises may have been an offense. Kautilya also seemed to advocate a theory of bimetallism for coinage, which involved the use of two metals, copper and silver, under one government.

Punch marks and visible images of an elephant and the sun on Mauryan coins.

 

 

Cast bronze ½ karshapana coin of the Sunga period (2nd-1st century BC).

 

                        The extensive coinage reserves of the Kushān empire (1st–3rd centuries CE) continued to influence the coinage of the Guptas (320 to 550 AD) and the later rulers of Kashmir. During the early rise of Roman trade with India up to 120 ships were setting sail every year from Myos Hormos to India. Gold, used for this trade, was apparently being recycled by the Kushān empire for their own coinage. Pliny the Elder (NH VI.101) complained about the drain of specie to India:
                        The Gupta empire issued a surplus of gold coins, depicting the Gupta kings performing various rituals. Large hoards of Roman coins have been found throughout India, and especially in the busy maritime trading centers of South India. The South Indian kings reissued Roman coinage in their own name after defacing the coins in order to signify their sovereignty.

Early Common Era—Middle Ages (200 AD—1300 AD)

Coin of Samudragupta with Garuda pillar, British Museum.

 

 

Coins of Chandragupta II.

 

                           The percentage of gold in Indian coins under the reign of Gupta rulers showed a steady financial decline over the centuries as it decreases from 90% pure gold under Chandragupta I (319-335 AD) to a mere 75-80% under Skandagupta (467 AD). Chandragupta I's coins also depict the then queen of India, Kumaradevi, a Licchavi princess, whose name is also written on the same coin. The more aggressive Samudragupta (335 – 380 AD) is shown as an archer, and holding a battle axe, while Sanskrit verses praise him as an invincible warrior.The Gupta emperors continued to issue coinage until the 6th century, until waves of invasions from the Huns bought their reign to an end. These Huns themselves issued coinage which was imitated from the earlier prototypes.


Allan & Stern (2008) report on Indian coinage of the Middle Ages:

A notable adaptation of a Hun design was the neat silver coinage of the Shahis of Gandhara of the "bull and horseman" type in the 9th and 10th centuries, extensively imitated by the Muslim conquerors of India and the contemporary minor Hindu dynasties. The other type favoured by the medieval Hindu dynasties for their gold coinage was that of a seated goddess—going back to a Gupta reverse—and an inscription with the king's name on the other side.

Arab campaigns in India led to a foothold in Sindh, where very small silver coins belonging to the Umayyads are found. The coinage of the Ghūrid invaders is mainly gold and silver coins, 10.76 grams each.

Late Middle Ages—Contemporary History (1300 AD—2000 AD)

Coin issued by Akbar the Great from the Gobindpur mint.

 

 

1/2 anna coin of Gwalior, Indian princely state, 1942.

 

 

Coin of Portuguese India, one rupia of 1882.