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Earliest AR shatamana, Gandhara (c.600-500 BC), India - FIRST Indian coin issue

Earliest AR shatamana, Gandhara (c.600-500 BC), India - FIRST Indian coin issue

$ 128.27

Availability: 100 in stock
  • Item must be returned within: 30 Days
  • Refund will be given as: Money Back
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  • All returns accepted: Returns Accepted

    Description

    Long concave silver bar, 42mm long, struck with a 6-armed Gandharan symbol on each end. 11.35 grams. Rajgor 540-545 var. SKU T545-50579
    These fascinating large coins, equal to about 3 karshapanas, are the most likely candidates to be the very first Indian coins ever struck. During the 6th century BC Gandhara was a subject of the Achaemenids, who probably introduced the native Gandharans to the idea of a struck coinage. The earliest Gandharan coins - shatamanas (=100 manas, also known as "bent bars"), were probably based on a Achaemenid siglos standard, since the average weight of these shatamanas equals to the weight of 2 sigloi. From Gandhara, the idea of struck, or punchmarked, coinage spread south and soon the punchmarked coins were produced in many other regions of northern and central India.
    Unconditionally guaranteed to be authentic.