Sale: CNG 82, Lot: 804. Estimate $750.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 16 September 2009.  Sold For $1600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

INDIA, Kushan Empire. "Samudra". Usurper, circa AD 350-375. AV Dinar (7.74 g, 12h). Samudra standing facing, head left, sacrificing over altar and holding standard; filleted trident to left, Brahmi "Pu" to left, "Samudra" to inner right, "Gadakhara" to outer right / Ardoxsho seated facing, holding filleted investiture garland and cornucopia. MK 611 (unlisted dies); Donum Burns 813 ("Maiores domus"). Superb EF for type.

This "usurper" is unknown apart from his coins. Based on stylistic incongruities with traditional Kushan numismatic iconography (cf. MK 599), the use of ad hoc mints, rather than the usual sites employed by others, and the use of "Samudra", Göbl argued for a field commander striking on behalf of Samudragupta in a region which had not yet been incorporated into the Gupta realm, but where Kushan dinars would have been the accepted currency.