Sale: CNG 70, Lot: 503. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 September 2005.  Sold For $500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

[Ancient] INDIA, Kushans. "Samudra" . Circa 350-375 AD. AV Dinar (7.57 g, 12h). Samudra standing facing, holding staff, sacrificing over altar to left; tamgha to inner left, "Samudra" in Brahmi to inner right; symbol to outer right / Ardoxsho seated facing, holding investiture garland with bands and cornucopiae. MK 611; Donum Burns 813 ("Maiores domus"); MACW 3601-3604 (Gadakhara). Good VF, struck with recut reverse die, flat strike in center. ($500)

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.