The Mauryan Silver Punch Mark Coin
PICTURE IS FOR ILLUSTRATION PURPOSES ONLY
ORDER CODE: INDIPUNCH
SILVER PUNCHMARK WITH
IMPRESSIONS OF VARIOUS SYMBOLS AND OR ANIMALS
The earliest Indian coins were pieces of punch marked silver, minted between 5th - 6th century
BCE. Silver metal, rare in ancient India, likely originated from trade with Afghanistan, Persia,
and Burma. Ancient Indian coinage was based on the Karshapana unit, consisting of 32 rattis
(3.3 grams of silver). A ratti is equivalent to 0.11 grams, the average weight of a bright red
Gunja seed.
Mauryan coins differed from earlier kingdoms by having five punches and always including a
sun symbol, representing the emperor. An astonishing variety of symbols, animate and
inanimate objects, are believed to represent other Mauryan officials. The other difference is the
reverse symbols, far smaller in number, which served as a mintmark. Two manufacturing
methods were used: cut-sheet and dropped-globule. Metal was beaten into flat sheets and cut
into rectangles or squares which were clipped to adjust weight. Respectively, circular coins were
made from molten metal globules that were poured into molds or dropped into water then
hammered flat. Images were then punched onto hot coin blanks. The pictographic system
gradually disappeared as written coin inscriptions arrived in the second century BCE.
The Mauryan Empire was the largest and most powerful empire in ancient India. At its greatest
extent, the Empire stretched across India from its border with China across Pakistan and
Afghanistan to the border with Iran. The empire was founded in 322 BCE by Chandragupta
Maurya, who succeeded the Nanda Dynasty.
ALBUM CODE: PUNCHALB
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