Kushan Magra Gold Dinars

[gsrctr]

Gold dinars by Magra are quite rare. After a long wait, I managed to get one last year. Usually Magra is described as Kushan rebel king. The style of the king's clothes on the obverse is quite different from the depicted in other Kushan coins. From coinindia.com (a great reference site for Kushan dinars):

"King standing facing, nimbate, holding chakra-topped standard and sacrificing at altar at left.
Blundered Bactrian legend around, Brahmi legend: Magraor Mishra at right, ga under arm /
Goddess of plenty Ardochsho enthroned facing, holding diadem and cornucopia,
Blundered Bactrian legend right: APΔOXþO, tamgha at left

The name of this king is normally read as Magra. However, on this coin, and others I have seen, there is a distinct diacrtical mark above the ma, rendering it Mi, and the second letter has a horizontal line in the middle, suggesting a sha rather than a ga. Thus the name appears to read Mishra. Note that the king on this coin does not wear the usual tall, pointed crown, nor does he have a diadem. This suggests that he was not a Kushan royal, but perhaps a rebel of some kind."

[gsrctr]

A couple of months ago I came across another Magra dinar at an auction. It looked a little different - the top of the standard had two rings instead of a chakra! I could not find a reference to such a coin anywhere, but I saw a coin with similar standard design in an Indian auction a few years ago. I believe the standard is a buddhist ring staff. Since chakra is also a buddhist symbol, may be Magra is a buddhist king.

The long and short of the story - I have the coin and it looks beautiful with radiating flow lines:). It matches the previous one in weight, diameter and die axis. If anyone has a similar coin or some reference, please post.

[THCoins]

Great post and specimen, and not one but two !
I knew this type existed but had not really looked into detail on this one. So thanks for the update ! I especially like the standing king figure in your first post. There it has a very distinct non-Kushan, non-Gupta character.
I looked at several specimen also on the internet. Most specimen seemed from different dies, so there likely was not a very small production at the time. The variation in characterforms makes it difficult to get a final reading. The "Sra"could also be meant as "Sri"?  The element under the arm seems attached to the staff so i would read that as "La" ?
I am not fully convinced by you buddhism evidence. But i can't discard it either.

[Figleaf]

Congratulations on such a spectacular acquisition! Great detail and so much to see. TFP.

While a rebel Magra/Mishra is of course not impossible, I was reminded of what happens on coins of Chach: there are mainstream coins as well as coins that look different but are issued in the same time frame. Current theory is that they were issued by noblemen in a delegated situation, e.g. to acknowledge political marriages or out of necessity for control when communications are unreliable or take long - a viceroy type of position. The Great khans did something similar. Until Kublai, there was a khakhan in Karakorum and khans in the Chagatai khanate, Ilkhanate and the khanate of the golden horde. Afterwards, things got more complicated. An extended issue is an argument for such an arrangement and the differences could reflect the local situation. Time-wise, the Kushans are sitting in between Chach and Genghis.

Peter

[gsrctr]

Thank you, Peter. You always provide other possibilities to think of. What you suggest is a very good alternate explanation.

THCoins,
I was not sure if the second one is genuine - relieved that you already knew of this type.
Can you please help with one thing - is the script on the obverse on the second coin different from that on the first one?
I am including a picture of first type (not mine) where the script is legible and it looks different to me.

[THCoins]

Can not really make sense of the Bactrian script.
Here is one with even beter visible legend.
All seem to me corrupt variants of "þAONANOþAO KOþANO", without a consistent part where a name in Bactrian could be.

[gsrctr]

Looks like there is one more variant. The Chakra staff is topped by another ring!
I see three other such coins in acsearch, but I don't see a reference to this type any description.
Just acquired the following. The coin is 19 mm, 7.9 grams and die axis is 12h.

[THCoins]

Congratulations ! I think you are becoming the worlds most eminent Magra expert by now !
I saw this one on the sixbid site. Bit above my budget ceiling unfortunately. But glad you could aquire it.
With the extra circle at the top of the staff it now starts to resemble the bird on the standard of the later Gupta rulers, would you agree ?

[gsrctr]

Thank you, but I am not an expert by any measure! I just got the chance to acquire all three varieties and I jumped.
Interestingly, this same coin was listed in cngcoins in 2005 for an estimate of $2000 and 15 years later cngcoins lists this with an estimate of $1000!
Must be the only "extremely rare" coin that actually lost value in 15 years!!