Silver Karshapana

Date: 300 AD - 720 AD

Materials: Silver

Origin: Gujerat, India

Diameter: 14 mm

Accession No: 1999C4

This little silver coin was minted in Gujerat in India in about 300-720 AD. The reverse is completely Indian, with lettering in a script called Brahmi and a Buddhist symbol representing a hill. However the portrait on the obverse derives from coins issued about 500 years earlier by Greek kings who ruled in Afghanistan and the Punjab. These kingdoms were founded by Greeks left behind as settlers by Alexander the Great when he conquered the area. They survived into the first century BC.
Purchased from A H Baldwin & Sons Ltd.