Extremely Rare Kushan Double Dinar

India, Kushan Empire. Vima Kadphises. Ca. A.D. 100-127/8. AV double dinar, (24 mm, 15.91 g, 12 h).

Mint A. Diademed and crowned half-length bust of Vima Kadphises left, arising from on clouds, holding mace-scepter; in left field, tamgha / Ithyphallic Siva, nimbate, standing facing, head left, holding trident and resting arm on the Nandi bull standing to right behind, head facing; in left field, Buddhist Triratana. Göbl 12 (O-/R12A, obv. die not recorded). Superb XF, well centered and struck. Extremely rare.

Most of the gold for Kushan coins is thought to have come from the Silk Road trade, which saw a flow of Roman gold aurei to Central Asia and India to buy luxury goods. These Roman gold coins were then melted down and restruck with Kushan types. At one point the movement of gold coinage out of the Roman Empire to the east was so great that it contributed to a financial crisis during the reign of Tiberius. It is from denarius aureus, the Roman term for a gold coin that the term dinara enters into Central Asian and Indian literature as a term for a gold coin in the Kushan period. This massive double dinar carries similar types to those of the dinar, but is notable for the addition of flames to the shoulders of the king as an outward sign of his divinity and the presence of the Nandi bull behind Siva.

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