Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 1155. Estimate $750.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $450. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

[Ancient] INDIA, Kushans. "Samudra" . Circa 350-375 AD. AV Dinar (7.57 g, 12h). Samudra, nimbate and crowned, standing facing, head left, sacrificing over altar to left and holding filleted standard; to left, filleted trident behind, "Pu" to left, "Samudra" to inner right, and "Gadakhara" to outer right in Brahmi / Ardoxsho, nimbate, seated facing on throne, holding filleted investiture garland in extended right hand and cradling cornucopiae in left arm. MK 611 (unlisted dies); Donum Burns 813 ("Maiores domus"); MACW 3601-3604 (Gadakhara). Near EF, struck with rÉcut reverse die. ($750)

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.