COINS OF INDIA & PAKISTAN
FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO THE PRESENT
EARLY
ANCIENT SILVER COIN FROM INDIA
India developed some of the world's earliest coins sometime around
600BC. The coins were made by taking a flat, though often
irregularly shaped, piece of silver, cutting it to the proper
weight, then applying a series of punches to the front of it,
indicating where and when it was made. The punches covered a wide
variety of symbols. As the coin circulated, additional
punches were sometimes put on the back, verifying the weight and
fineness of the coin. The coin, known as the Punchmarked
Karshapana, continued to be issued until about the second century
BC. Today the coin is one of the least expensive
early coins available, and represents one of the earliest approaches to
the development of coinage.
Item IN-PUNCH
INDIA SILVER PUNCHMARKED KARSHAPANA 5th-2nd
Century BC VG
$8.50
Item IN-PUNCHx5
5 DIFFERENT ANCIENT INDIAN SILVER PUNCHMARKED
KARSHAPANA COINS, VG
$39.50
ANCIENT SILVER PORTRAIT DRACHM 
This ancient silver portrait drachm
was struck by Skanda-gupta, who ruled the Gupta Empire from 455 to
about 485AD. The Empire was one of the most famous and
prosperous Hindu dynasties of India. The name Skanda is derived from
the name Alexander the Great who had marched into India some 700 years
earlier. Skanda was not as successful against his enemies as
his namesake, and lost much of his empire to the invading Huns
(Hepthalites). The coin grades Good to Very Good and has a
very crude portrait of the Emperor on the obverse. The
reverse has legends and symbols.
Item
IN-GUPTA SILVER DRACHM OF SKANDA-GUPTA
455-485AD G-VG $7.50
Item IN-GUPTAX5 5 of the above SILVER
DRACHMS OF SKANDA-GUPTA 455-485AD G-VG $29.50
A PHALLIC COIN OF
INDIA
India
has a long history of
making their new coins resemble those already
in circulation. After many generations crudely copying the
coins
found in circulation, the original design becomes garbled and
forgotten. The design
begins to take on new elements and new meanings. This 11th
century
copper dramma from Omkaresvara, India is an excellent example of
this.
The design of the coin was based on the Sassian fire altar Drachm that
was
produced about 500 years earlier. What was the head of the
emperor
on the front became a phallic symbol, the Lingam of Siva. The fire
alter
on the reverse turned into a series of lines.
Item
L-IN-OMKOMKARESVARA, INDIA BRONZE DRAMMA,11th
CENTURY
(MN431) VF$9.50
MEDIEVAL HORSE
COIN OF PAKISTAN
This
billon (highly debased silver) jital was struck by Nasir al din
Mohammed
who ruled Sind from 1249 to 1260AD. Sind is located in
south-eastern
Pakistan. Sind was once the center of the ancient Indus Valley
civilizations.
At the time the coin was struck, it was on the edges of competing
empires,
so was able to re-establish its own independence.
The coin
is highly unusual for the period in that it has a clear pictorial
design featuring a horse. Some theorize that this signifies the
resurgence in the trade of war horses that had thrived in the
area in earlier years before the invasion of Ghenghiz Khan.
Item
L-SIND-A1819SIND HORSE
JITAL 1249-60AD (A1819) VF$5.00
MEDIEVAL INDIAN SILVER
TANKA OF A
TYRANT
Ala
al-din Muhammad
Khalji came to power in India in 1396 by murdering his Uncle the Sultan
of Delhi. He then marched into Delhi with his Uncle’s head
upon a
pike and proceeded to blind, butcher, murder or imprison any family or
nobles who interfered with his ambition. He conquered much of
India, as well as fought off the Mongol hoards. His
ruthlessness
was such that even the Mongols came to fear him. He died in
1416.
Thinking of himself as a new world conqueror, similar to Alexander the
Great, he used the title “The Second Alexander” on this silver
Tanka The coin is approximately 28mm in diameter.
As is
typical of Islamic coins, the design consists entirely of calligraphy.
The coin grades Very Fine.
Item
C-DELHIDELHI SULTANS, ALA UD DIN MUHAMMAD
SILVER TANKA (1396-1416) VF$25.00
RARE COINS OF DANISH
INDIA
Denmark established its
first
colony in India in 1620. A mint was
later established to provide coinage for the colonies. Its
coins
tended to be small crude pieces that were hand struck from hand
engraved dies. Due to falling profits and increasing costs of
maintaining the colonies, Denmark
sold its possessions in India to the British East India Company in
1845,
thus bringing an end to its colonial era and the, coinage of Danish
India.
We recently obtained a hoard of these small, scarce, crude copper coins
of
Danish India. We have not had time to sort through the coins,
so
will
offer them as they come. Because the coins are crudely struck grading
them
is sometimes difficult, so we will just call them crude and worn.
Item
L-DANIND-x1 1 DANISH INDIA COPPER COIN
18th-19th Century$6.00
Item
L-DANIND-x10 10 MIXED DANISH INDIA COPPER COIN
18th-19th Century$29.75
RARE NAZARANA PAISA
OF JAIPUR
The Majaraja of Jaipur was a
very wealthy man. He grew
even wealthier due
to an unusual practice in this native state in Northern
India.
Special, extra large coins, called Nazarana coins, were struck each
year.
If one wanted to be on good terms with the Maharaja, one would purchase
these special coins from the mint and present the coins to
the
Maharaja for his birthday or on other special occasions. The
mintages of these unusual coins were quite low, so they are rarely seen
by collectors. The coins acknowledged both the Maharaja and the King of
England, who also ruled India. We offer the copper Nazarana
Paisa
struck in the name of Maharaja Man Singh II
and King George V or King George VI. The exact date of the coin is our
choice.
The coins grade XF, however, as is typical of these coins, they have
been
cleaned. After all, one would not want to give the Maharaja
with
a
dirty coin!
Item
L-IN-JAIP-155JAIPUR NAZARANA PAISA GEORGE V
1922-35 (KM155) VF-XFsold
out
Item
L-IN-JAIP-180JAIPUR NAZARANA PAISA GEORGE VI
1937-49 (KM180) XF$32.50
COINS OF THE INDIAN
PRINCELY STATES 
Though the British controlled most of
India prior to
its independence in 1947, many of the Indian states retained their
right to issue coins. Most coins could only be used within
the
state they were issued and there was little standardization of the
coins or denominations issued from state to state. The result was a
bewildering array of coins, many of which have limited
mintages. We have assembled a collection of coins
from nine
different states. These collections have proved very popular. Because
of the difficulty in obtining coins of the Indian States, we sometimes
have to vary the exact coins included in the set. The latest
group
of
sets we made up included are a square Paisa from Bahawalpur,
a crude rectangular or irregularly shaped
1/2
Paisa of Bundi, 1/4 Anna of Gwalior that
pictures
the Maharajah, a 1/4 Anna from Indore that pictures a bull, a coin from
Kutch that was issued with a center
hole,
an unusual, undated, uniface1 Sel from Manipur that is made from Bell
Metal., an eight-sided 1 Anna from Mewar, a 1 Pice coin from
Tonk
and a tiny 19th century Travencore 1 Cash that pictures a six-pointed
star in a circle.. It is
a fascinating collection from a
fascinating
and ancient country. The coins generally gradeVery Good to
Very
Fine.
An identification guide is included with each set. The exact
coins
included in the set may vary, depending upon what we have in stock at
the
time your order is received.
Item
BK-IN-STATECOL9 COLLECTION OF 9
DIFFERENT
INDIAN NATIVE STATE COINS$22.95
INDIA COIN SET INCLUDES
ODD SHAPES
This set of ten recent coins of India includes 6 odd-shaped
coins. Included is the
11-sided 2002
2 Rupee features a map of India.
The 2001 1 Rupee is struck in stainless steel. The 1999 50
Paisa
features the Parliament building and a map of India. A
rhinoceros
is featured on the 1994 25 paise. The aluminum 1988 20 Paisa coin is a
siven sided coin. The 1988 10 paisa is also struck in stainless
steel. The square 5 Paisa is dated 1993. The 1971
3 Paisa
coin is a six sided coin. The 1976 2 Paisa has scallopped
edges.
The 1972 1 Paisa is square. Because of their low purchasing
power
and the high cost of production, the lower four denominations are no
longer issued and are increasingly difficult to get. The The
reverse of the coins features three lions from the
ancient Pillar of Asoka, a sandstone pillar from the third century
BC. It is an interesting set that includes a
variety of
unusual shapes.
Item
S-IN-SET10INDIA 10 COIN SET 1 Paisa - 2 Rupees
1971-2002 UNC.$4.95
PAKISTAN COIN SET
This 10 coin set includes a 2003 10 Rupee picturing flowers, 2004 5
Rupees, 2006 2 Rupees picturing a mosque and the 2006 1 Rupee picturing
the nations founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Also included is the
50
Paisa, 25 Paisa, scalloped 10 Paisa, square 5 Paisa, 2 Paisa and 1
Paisa dating from the 1970’s to the 1990’s. All coins are
Uncirculated, though they may be poorly toned or poorly struck.
Item
S-PK-SET10PAKISTAN 10 COIN SET 1971-2006, UNC. $12.00
THE
RAMATANKA (INDIAN TEMPLE TOKEN)
This
crudely made brass tokens pictures the Gods Rama and Laksmana standing
on one side of the coin. The other side shows Rama and Sita seated on a
throne, along the monkey god Hanuman. The tokens were used in temples
throughout
India during much of the 20th Century.
Item IN-TTINDIA
TEMPLE TOKEN$4.50
FOR RELATED COINS OF THIS AREA PLEASE SEE:
AFGHANISTAN
COIN & CURRENCY PAGE
RARE SILVER COIN OF
MANGUBARNI
SRI LANKA COIN SET
INCLUDES NEW ISSUES & BIMETAL
THE UNUSUAL TIBET SILVER RUPEE
THE BURMESE PEACOCK RUPEE
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scale with which to judge image sizes
NOTE: All pictures are of a
typical item taken from
stock. Because we have multiples of most items, the item you
receive
may not look exactly the same, however it will be as described.
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Joel Anderson
PO Box 365
Grover Beach, CA 93483-0365
USA
phone/fax 1 805 489 8045
email: orders@joelscoins.com
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