Punch-Marked Coin (400–300 BCE): Art, History and Details

Punch-Marked Coin (400–300 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

After Alexander of Macedon succeeded in conquering Egypt and Persia in 331 BC, his ambition to rule the known world led him further east across Bactria in Afghanistan, through the Hindu Kush mountain pass, and into India. There he succeeded in defeating all the local kings of the region until his men, on the brink of mutiny, insisted that they return to Greece. Alexander left governors in charge of his territories, and after his death in 323 BC, his governors became independent kings, establishing Hellenistic cities and a Greek cultural base in the region, which lasted for almost 200 years. Native Indian coinage was marked with symbols associated with the place where they were issued.

Object facts

• Title: Punch-Marked Coin
• Date: 400–300 BCE
• Culture: India, Rajasthan, Maurya period (322–185 BCE)
• Type: Coins
• Technique: silver
• Dimensions: Overall: 1.4 x 1.2 cm (9/16 x 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art - Maurya
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1967.243.a

A detail from the museum

Early Indian coins were cut in irregular shapes and punched with a wide range of marks. The deep punches would prove that the coin was pure silver all the way through.

Collection credit

Gift of Sri B. D. Dwivedi

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.