Lot 1

Ancient, Gomati-Ghaghara River Valley, (c. 6th-5th Century BC), Silver PMC, 5.12 gms, 14.43x27.64 mm, Obverse: Central/Main punches of ‘three loops around a central blob‘ and ‘wheel’, Reverse: Uniface, Reference # Hardaker, Non-Imperial Series, AY 2, pg. 115, about very fine, extremely rare.

These PMCs are found in the Gomati-Ghaghara river valley and generally identified as Ayodhya PMCs by way of their provenance/main punch. This series is one of the rarest in the entire punch mark series. The archaic manufacturing technique vouches for its antiquity and hence this series can be considered as one of the earliest coins of the Indian sub-continent.