A New Seventh-Century Countermark with a Sogdian Inscription

Author(s): ALEXANDER NIKITIN and GUNTER ROTH

Source: The Numismatic Chronicle (1966-) , 1995, Vol. 155 (1995), pp. 277-279
Published by: Royal Numismatic Society

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/42668801

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 NOTES 277

Anastasius (491-518)
Byzantine, and has
the closest in style
perhaps Marcian, as
The dating of MHD
likelihood of accurac

A New Seven
Sogdian In
ALEXANDER NIKITIN and GUNTER ROTH

[plate 49]

Recently our attention was drawn to a series of different Sasanian and

Arab-Sasanian drachms and imitations having the same unusual counter-
mark (nos. 1-4), a winged animal, 'Senmurv', flying to the right together
with a short legend in Sogdian script: prn (=farn, 'glory, splendour,
fortune'). Without going into the various aspects of the concept of farn-
xvarrah current among practically all ancient and modern Iranian peoples
and present in all Iranian languages, it should be noted that the winged
animal in question, conventionally defined as 'Senmurv' by modern scholars
when describing its representations on the works of Sasanian art, was most
probably associated with 'farn' by Iranians and by their eastern neighbours
in the Sasanian and the Early Islamic periods. As well as being represented
on Sasanian silver vessels, sculpture and textiles, it appears on numerous
countermarks stamped on Sasanian and Sasanian-type coins somewhere in
Tokharestan and Sogd.1 The image of ' Senmurv' on the new countermark is
more elaborately executed than on most previously known countermarks of
the same group.
The countermark in question with a Sogdian legend is not listed in Gobi's
work. Only one Arab-Sasanian coin with a similar countermark has been
published so far by H. Gaube, though without comment (no. 4). Three more
coins with the same countermark can now be recorded (nos. 1-3). It appears
on a seventh-century Transcaucasian imitation of Hormazd IV (ad 579-90),
on a drachm of Husraw II (ad 590-680) and on an Arab-Sasanian drachm
of Ubaydallah b. Ziyad of ah 63 (the same date as on the coin of Abdallah
b. az-Zubair illustrated in Gaube's work). All the coins with this countermark
listed here could have been stamped at the end of the seventh century
1 R. Gobi, Dokumente zur Geschichte der iranischen Hunnen in Baktrien und Indien
(Wiesbaden, 1967) vol. IV, pl. 8, 10, KM 1, 3, 7, 10, 11, 105.

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 278 NOTES

anywhere where the

only in the homeland
in Bukhara or in Ustr
India (Pakistan). This m
marks with Sogdian ins
bronze coins with the
eighth century2 and th
imitating the type of H
reverse (nos. 5, 6).
There are several oth
have not always been
numeration, are the f
KM 78 and 82: Sogdian
as has been suggested
drachms of Peroz, on i
and in one case on a d
hoard of Kufic coins found in Russia.
KM 79 : two lines in Sogdian script, dšcy bgy. The first word is most probably
a theophoric name deriving from the name of the fifteenth day of the
Sogdian calendar dedicated to the Creator of the World; the second word,
bgy , is a Sogdian title (lord). This reading has been suggested by
Smirnova.4 Among coins bearing this countermark there are drachms of
Peroz and their imitations (Gobi, Em. 283b, c; Em. 285).
KM 96: a short Sogdian inscription with the title xwb (ruler). It appears on
drachms of Peroz and on imitations (Gobi, Em. 287). Coins with this
countermark are often found in Chaganian (the Surkhan-Darya valley in
Southern Uzbekistan).5
KM 115: the most likely reading is pyskpr or pyškwr, some title, name or
place-name not so far identified. It is tempting, of course, to take it either
for the name of the city of Peshawar or for some Iranian title, a form
similar to the Middle-Persian pešobay (leader). The countermark appears
usually on the drachms of Peroz (Gobi, Em. 283b). Two coins imitating
the type of Peroz with this countermark, both coming from the Moscow
collection, were described by Smirnova, though no reading of the
inscription was suggested in her publication.6

2 O. I. Smirnova, Svodnyj katalog sogdijskih monet (Moscow, 1981), pp. 306-8, nos. 1356-9,
pl. 33. Unknown ruler. Obv. ruler's bust to right, winged crown, Sogdian legend, prn , in front;
rev. square frame, legend bgy within; legend rgtfrik gwb " gwrpt around.
O. I. Smirnova, 4 Numizmaticheskie zametki', Epigrafika Vostoka 18 (1967), p. 40, n. 14.
* Ibid. p. 39.
E. V. Rtveladze, 'Novy e numizmaticheskie dannye k istorii vzaimootnoshenij Severnogo
Toharistana i gosudarstv Vostoka v V- VIII w. n.e. ', Acta Orientalia Acadetniae Scientiarum
Hungariae 41 (2), pp. 303, 305.
6 Smirnova, 4 Numizmaticheskie zametki', p. 40, n. 14.

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 NOTES 279

LIST OF COINS

Specimens illustrated on PI. 49 are marked with an asteris

Coins with ' senmurv ' countermarks with Sogdian legend prn
1.* Private coll., Germany, wt 3-85 g, diam. 32 mm.
Transcaucasian seventh-century imitation of Hormazd IV.
Obv. ' pzwm ' whlmzd , countermark prn at 1 1 o'clock; rev. ST ' (
(= drachm).
2.* Private coll. Germany, wt 3-99 g, diam. 32 mm.
Sasanian, Husraw II.
Obv. GDH 9pzwt' hwslwb, countermark with prn at 8 o'clock
KM 3a at 10 o'clock; rev. nwcwyst (= year 29), wh.
3.* Private coll., Germany, wt 3-51 g, diam. 33 mm.
Arab-Sasanian, Ubaydallah b. Ziyad.
Obv. GDH ' pzwť , ' wbyťT Y zyfťn ; marginal: BSM ' LLH ; 3
with prn at 10 o'clock; countermark KM 14 at 5 o'clock; coun
(Pehlevi: htwtfty or ďtwtftcl) between 1 and 2 o'clock; rev. syc
gd ( = Gay).
4. Paris. H. Gaube, Arabosasanidische Numismatik (Braunschweig, 1973), pl. 3,
no. 32. Arab-Sasanian, Abdallah b. az-Zubair.
Obv. GDH 'pzwť, ' pdwT ' myl Y wlwysnyk'n; marginal: BSM ALLH ;
countermark with prn at 10 o'clock; rev. sycšst (= year 63), st (= Stahr).

Imitations of Hormazd IV with marginal Sogdian prn on the reverse

5.* British Museum, Inv. no. 1922. 1.16.50, wt 3-63 g.
Obv. blundered ; rev. blundered, marginal : prn in Sogdian script.
6.* British Museum, Inv. No. 1951. 9.3.1, wt 3-70 g.
Obv. blundered; rev. blundered, marginal: prn in Sogdian script.

An Unprovenanced Viking-Age Silver Hoard of

Tenth-Century Date
JAMES GRAHAM-CAMPBELL and MARK BLACKBURN

[plates 50-1]

On 6 July 1994, a small Viking-age silver hoard was sold at Christie's (lot
466), from the collection of the late Sir Sidney Nolan. This unprovenanced
find, comprising seven pieces of bullion and one coin, with a total weight of
459 g, has not previously been noted in print. The bullion consists of two
complete ingots, two ingot terminal fragments (one of which appears to be
a mould duplicate of one of the complete ingots), one complete twisted-rod

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 PLATE 49

NIKITIN AND ROTH, SOGDIAN COUNTERMARK

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