Lot 69

Ancient, Guptas, Prakashaditya (circa 510-525 AD), Gold Dinar, 9.32 gms, 19.95 mm, ‘Horseman Lion slayer’ type, Obverse: king wearing Hunnic-style crown riding a caparisoned horse to right, Garuda standard above, wearing a bow across his body, slaying a lion that is attacking from the front, by running his sword through the mouth of the lion and the sword coming out from the back of the lion’s head, and letter Ru under the horse’s belly, in between its legs. Reverse: nimbate goddess Lakshmi seated facing on lotus, holding long stemmed flower, tamgha to upper left and riband, Sri Prakashadityah in right field, Fifth century Gupta coins are issued with the legend 'Sri Prakasaditya' which may be the name of a ruler unknown from inscriptions, or an epithet of a known Gupta ruler such as Budhagupta. It is not possible to determine exactly if and when Prakasaditya ruled presently but epigraphic and numismatic evidence of other Gupta rulers suggest Prakasaditya ruled in the latter half of the 5th century. Recenty in 2015,  P. Tandon, “The Identity of Prakāśāditya,”Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 25.4 (October 2015) pp. 647-668 (reattributing the issue to Toramana) research shows that Prakashaditya may be an epithet  or another name for the Huna ruler Toramana, a similar specimen sold in cngcoins USA for 9000 $ on 14 Sep 2021 almost 2 weeks before this auction, very collectible. (BMC pl.XXII, 4; Altekar XV-14), TGE page 375-382, artificially colored, over all extremely fine+, very rare.