KIDARITE, slightly base gold stater

Description

The early Kidarite gold coins were recognizably copies of the Kushan coins in circulation at the time.

The Kidarite kingdom was centered in Pakistan, and extended into Afghanistan and northern India for a time. Who they were is uncertain. They may have been Hephthalites, or perhaps were ethnically Kushan rebels or followers of a usurper.

The earliest ancient Indian coins were the “bent bar” punchmarked silvers of the Achaemenid Persians occupying Gandhara in northwest Pakistan. By the 3rd century BC coins were in general use in most of India and Ceylon, and in subsequent centuries struck round coins in gold, silver, and copper came into use throughout the subcontinent and beyond to Southeast Asia and Pacific islands to Java and beyond.