Six Categories of Old Coins of India from the Ancient Era

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Six Categories of Old Coins of India from the
Ancient Era
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• The history of ancient India is so vast that it
  is almost impossible to study old Indian coins
  issued by different ancient empires and dynasties
  at one stretch. It is important to classify these
  coins to undertake a streamlined research.
• Lets take a quick look at the broad categories
  of ancient Indian coins, which will definitely
  help you while studying Indian coinage in a more
  systematic manner.

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• Ancient coins of India issued by different
  Janapadas are considered to be the earliest ones.
  For example, it is believed that Gandhara
  Janapada issued coins between 600BC and 300BC,
  Magadha Janapada struck coins from 600BC to
  400BC, and same is the case with Kashi Janapada.
• These Indian Old Coins were struck mostly in
  silver using the punch-marked technique. Each
  Janapada issued coins featuring unique designs
  and all of them bore different denominations.

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• Rare historical coins issued by Indian Empires
  such as Gupta Empire are considered to be the
  most beautiful ones in the world. Other empires
  such as Satavanahas, Western Shatrapas and
  Kalachuri of Tripuri also issued some very
  interesting coins.
• The next category comprises of old coins of India
  struck by ancient and early medieval kingdoms
  such as Malwa, Saurashtra, Vidharbha, Narmada
  etc. If you own an old coin of India from any of
  these kingdoms, then you should consider yourself
  to be lucky.

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• Ancient coins of South India fall under another
  prominent category, in which you will find a lot
  of varieties. For example, the Cholas, Cheras,
  Pandyas and Pallavas were some of the most
  powerful south Indian kingdoms, all of which
  issued unique coins of ancient India.
• Then there are Indian ancient coins issued by
  foreign Invaders such as Indo-greeks,
  Indo-Scythian, Kushans etc. and historical coins
  of India struck by Ancient City States such as
  Taxila, Ayodhya, Mathura, Kolhapur, Ujjain etc.

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• In short, historical coins of India can be
  divided into six categories namely, Janapada
  coins, coins of Indian empires, coins of ancient
  and early-medieval kingdoms, coins of South
  India, coins of ancient invaders and finally
  coins of ancient city states.
• Now that you have a fair idea about the types of
  old coins of India, it would be much easier to
  research about them or to build an interesting
  collection.