Indian Coins: FortuneGuru Collectibles
Starting with this article, we will be listing information about dealers of Indian Coins with whom we have had a satisfactory business relationship and whom we feel confident to endorse and recommend to our readers. The first in this series of sellers of Indian Coins is FortuneGuru Collectibles:
Indian Coins 004 (Kushan Coins)
By Bimal Trivedi
Picture1: Kushan, Kshatrap and Satvahan Kingdoms
The new tribe adopted to the local culture and customs very fast. Gradually, they built up a mighty Kushan Kingdom spreading from present days Kabul to Mathura and minted coins of different varieties.
Kujula Kadphises minted silver and AE (copper) coins. In numismatic parlance Silver is AR, Copper is AE and Gold is AV.
Learn Brahmi
In his article Indian Coins 003 Bimal Trivedi gave an introduction to the Brahmi alphabets. While it might look formidable in the beginning, learning Brahmi is much much easy than learning Persian, the language used on most Sultanate, Princely State and Mugal coins.
I strongly encourage enthusiasts first to visit the clickable article-link given above and then download the following charts for your studies. These are in a single PDF File
Indian Coins 003
Bimal Trivedi
According to many historians most of the Indian emperors were either tribals or nomads (or invaders). Especially the foreign historians tried to establish that Aryans were nomads, Maurya was a tribal, Kushans were nomads, Guptas were unknown people, even coin catalogues of modern times give powerful warriors of India a tribal status.
Indian Coins 002
Bimal Trivedi
The Tag line “something for everyone” is true for Indian numismatics. Take ancient one or the modern ones – depending on your ‘taste’ you can make a great collection.
Still not over with the Ancient times and money…
Agent Bushby Saheb - Coins from Rewa State
PN Subramanian
The Bushby Coin (Click To Enlarge)
During the course of my active service, I happened to be at Jabalpur in 1990 and there was one Mr. Soni, Dy. Manager working with me. He belonged to a goldsmith family and they had their own jewellery shop in the Sarafa area of the city. When he learnt about my numismatic leanings, he offered to help me. He told me that people from many walks of life, come to their shop to dispose off silver and gold coins, when they needed liquidity. He started bringing few coins every day for my approval. In turn, I used to identify one or two pieces, depending on their antiquity, and paid for them according to the then prevailing market rate. Ancient gold coins were also made available but I simply turned a blind eye as it was beyond my means to possess them.
Indian Coins: Why and What to Collect 001
Bimal Trivedi
India! The name of the country that arouses millions of feelings in one’s mind that may range from bizarre (to uninitiated) to most astonishing awe inspiring one. Indian Coins!! And the mind just cant fix eyes on a theme or a subject and wonders what to collect. Such a wide canvass, such a wide variety, so ancient, so beautiful. So intriguing to so beautiful and unmatched, unparallel!
The Coin Finds A Collector !!!
This statement does look enigmatic but in many cases it happens and in my case it is entirely true. I had spent my childhood in a small town where there were no coin dealers and the hobby was hardly pursued by anybody.
In school days, going to a temple situated a couple of kilometers on dusty road was part of my daily routine. The last kilometer stretch was passing thru’ old market place which was in dilapidated state and there was hardly any commercial activity as all the shops were shut. Many closed shops were part of the residences. One shop cum residence had fine murals of peacock in shining bright colours. Though I never had any knowledge about art and its technique – i liked the paintings and never missed looking at those paintings and admire them. Perhaps, being an art lover is the first ‘requirement’ for a collector.
Punch Marked Coins 005
 Chandragupta PMC 321-297 BC |
Ashoka PMC 272-232 BC |
| Pictures Use With Written Permission | of http://prabhu.50g.com |
To a newcomer all PMCs would look almost alike: irregular pieces of metal with a set of jumbled punches. However, there are subtle differences and these can be used to identify isolated coins when they are discovered.
Punch Marked Coins 004
The settlements east of Indus have been highly advanced in science, technology, education and commerce since almost 2000 BC. Ingots of precious metals were a means of exchange in commerce, in addition to the barter system which exists even today in some parts of India. Thus ingots of gold and silver became a household item in India, attracting plunderers from outside the country.
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