Ancient Iran Silver Coin

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PetesPockets55
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Ancient Iran Silver Coin

#1 Unread post by PetesPockets55 »

Ancient Iran Silver Reverse?
Ancient Iran Silver Reverse?
I won this ancient Iran silver coin recently and the seller said the date was unreadable. After getting it in hand I couldn't make out any numbers even using the “Creounity Time Machine”, :confused: .

Weight = 4 grams
Elliptical diameter = 28.3mm x 26.5mm

I'm hoping someone here might be familiar with and able to make out some of the details and help come up with:
1)A date or time period
2)Some details on the history
3)Some background and/or denomination (if there is one)
The seller did say he was sure it was Iran because it was similar to others he had.
Thanks a gazillion in advance.
Ancient Iran Obverse?
Ancient Iran Obverse?

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Daniel
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Re: Ancient Iran Silver Coin

#2 Unread post by Daniel »

Could be some obscure "tribal" production and it is very crudely pounded out of a piece of silver. Maybe is was produced by a certain society like their own private mint? I know this is not an answer you asked for but maybe a direction to look into.

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Re: Ancient Iran Silver Coin

#3 Unread post by PetesPockets55 »

Thanks Daniel, it is rather crudely done and I think I can make out what appears to be a horse's head in profile facing right, just left of center on what I've marked as Obverse. And reverse appears to have columns on each side of a temple (?) with stars on each side. I see a few markings that could be alpha numeric characters or decorations. :confused:
I'm just not familiar with them and hadn't expected to win the coin. But it was "shiny" and intriguing and we know how guys can be be attracted to that combo! widegrin

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Re: Ancient Iran Silver Coin

#4 Unread post by Daniel »

It does look like India or Arabic in design, but no expert on ancient coins myself. It is interesting.

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Re: Ancient Iran Silver Coin

#5 Unread post by mhonzell »

First off, dating coins is a rather modern phenomenon. In ancient times, most people knew the subject on the coin and related that to "their" time.

Second, maps have changed over the centuries. You said Iran, but if this is old enough, it wasn't Iran, then.

Here's examples from Persia:
anc-sas-sha2-gi'6-1.jpg
You may see some similarities. This is a Sasanid, date is 309-379AD.

Here is another in a bit more degraded state, dated 388-399 AD
sas-variv-ma926-1.jpg
Another, dated 427-483AD
anc-sas-per-mr-15-1.jpg
Starting to look like yours...

And, last one, dated 499-531AD
anc-sas-kav-rd-31.jpg
anc-sas-kav-rd-31.jpg (20.1 KiB) Viewed 4425 times
Yours is probably one of these last two. And, I'm thinking the third one based on the size of the text that is available.
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Re: Ancient Iran Silver Coin

#6 Unread post by dipper13 »

Just saw the coin and responses. M H is right, there was no "ancient Iran." The land was a part of Persia, the fertile crescent, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers was called Mesopotamia in ancient times. A coin advertised as from ancient Iran is misleading and false from the jump. If you said Persia,Mesopotamia or Babylon, then you are talking ancient.

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Re: Ancient Iran Silver Coin

#7 Unread post by PetesPockets55 »

Thanks Dipper. I knew something was off referring to the coin being from Iran, forgetting Persia would be the proper geographical reference for that time period.

Mark, I'm putting my socks back on lol: because once again you have knocked them off with your ability to find information and images for an ancient coin. It may seem second nature for you to know where and what to look for, but again you have helped me (and many others).
And now that I see your chronological progression of images (much clearer than my scans), I have to agree with your choice (image#3) as most closely resembling my coin.

For those interested, here is a little information I found about what was occurring near their world in 427- 483 a.d.:
427 a.d. - Sassanids (inhabitants of Persia) win major victory and take over the Parthian Empire and were very strong believers in Zoroastrianism. Some of the main beliefs of Zoroastrianism as the Persians practiced it was that there is one main God, Ahura Mazda and he has twin sons. One of them represents Truth and the other is the Lie. (Good and Evil?) I WONDER IF THE TWO MEN ON THE REVERSE OF MY COIN MIGHT REPRESENT THESE TWO-
Persia (West Asia) was conquered by the Arabs around 650 AD

(Thanks for information provided by Quatr.us)

434-453 a.d. Attila is king of the Huns
451 a.d. Attila the Hun is defeated at Chalons in France

455 a.d. The Vandals capture Rome (The Vandals were Germanic)
476 a.d. The Western Roman Empire ends completely

(Thanks for information provided by WorldHistoryMaps.Info)

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