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Seems to be a heavily worn Athenian tetradrachm from 449 - 413 BC. Right, agreed! But there is something very special about this coin. Actually 2 things.
Take a look at the counter/bankersmark above Athena's ear on the obverse.
And then look at these Indian punches found on typical Magdhan and Mauryan coins from the 6th to the 4th century BC:
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Magdhan punches: 6th - 4th century BC
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Mauryan punches: Every punch depicts the sun -
the symbol of the Mauryan culture
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Right. It is an Indian counter/bankersmark on an Athenian tetradrachm.
David R. Sear confirmed this theory:
"... probably correct in your identification of the solar mark as being of early Indian origin as similar punches are found on the coins of the Kingdom of Magadha (6th-4th century BC) and the later Mauryan Empire founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 321 BC. This fits well with the date of the Athenian tetradrachm which would seem to be from the closing decades of the 5th century..."
This is a very good sign that the coin had a long and far journey from Athens to India. Amazing if you remember the methods of transportation back then.
Trade was rather common between India and the greek world in ancient times.
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This map shows the most common ancient trade routes from Attica to the Indus Valley.
This coin did travel a lot indeed. Just imagine that a one way route may have lasted several weeks, even on the fastest way, the sea.
And according to the wear of the coin it did circulate several decades if not centuries.
Click here for my page on 'Circulation of Roman Republican Denarii'.
On the beginning of this page I mentioned that there are 2 special things about this coin. Well, the second is that it was found in the Middle East, the area of ancient Phoenicia in particular. This fact extends the journey from Athens to India to the mediterranean area of Phoenicia.
And last but not least, there is a second counter/bankers/temple-mark, a V or a ? . Egyptian coin hoards of Athenian tetradrachms contain a rather high amount of coins marked with a V. Other sources tell us that Sabaean coins and Greco-Palestinian coins sometimes have such marks on the cheek. |
If you have more information about the 'V'-mark please CONTACT me. You will get a discount for any purchase from my site.
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