MAURYA rati 321-187 BC
$20.00
MAURYA, rati, no date (321-187 BC), Obverse: 6-rayed star, Reverse: blank, silver, 4mm, 0.16g, VF
1 in stock
Description
The tiny silver ratis of the Mauryan Empire were made with several single punches. There is a book about them, but I’ve never seen that book.
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.
