Obverse: King always facing left, holding Sceptre & with Garuda bird on dvajha (stand) in left field.
Reverse: Goddess Lakshmi sitting on throne.
CLASS I - biruda on reverse is Parakramah (all powerful)
Var A - Legend begins at 1 O'clock, and Samudra under left arm Var B- same as Var A, but with Crescent over Garudadhavaja Var C- same as Var A, struck on small flan (approx 0.72"dia) Var D- same as Var A, but king has a dagger Var E- same as Var A, but legend begins on left side of coin Var F- legend on right in straight line Var G- Kings name is in full
New Variety: Var H- kings name is in full but King stands on a Platform
BUT CLASS II - Legend on reverse is Sri Vikramah (all victorious)
CLASS III - Kushan type - Also referred to as the "Punjab Type"
Samudragupta Brahmi text
SAMUDRAGUPTA STANDARD TYPE COIN
Class I Var A
Obverse: Samara-sata-vitata- viajyo jita-ripurajito-divam jayati 'The invincible (king) who had won victories on a hundred battlefields and conquered the enemies, wins the heaven'. 7.6gm
Reverse:Parakramah
SAMUDRAGUPTA GOLD COIN - STANDRD TYPE FULL TUNIC
Class I Var A
Obverse: Samara-sata-vitata- viajyo jita-ripurajito-divam jayati 'The invincible (king) who had won victories on a hundred battlefields and conquered the enemies, wins the heaven'
King is shown as a young man, wearing a full tunic, with pearls.
Reverse:Parakramah
SAMUDRAGUPTA STANDARD TYPE
Samudragupta Sceptre Type Coin
This coin design is very unique in that it depicts the King as a middle aged monarch. From the designs found on these coins, it is apparent that most of these coins were struck in the early part of his reign. The Goddess is shown sitting on a high backed throne, holding the diedem in her right hand.
7.82 gms.
Class I, Var B with Crescent
Crescent above the Garuda.
SAMUDRAGUPTA STANDARD TYPE VARIETY B COIN
7.43 grams.
Legend around king standing and holding a royal sceptre while sprinkling incense over an altar, Samudra in field right, Garuda standard with crescent above in field left.
Reverse: Parakramah in field right. Lakshmi seated on high backed throne holding cornucopiae and riband.
Crescent shown on obverse. King shown holding a royal Sceptre in left hand and sprinkling incense into fire altar with left hand. Goddess seated on a early style couch with high back. Control mark behind couch on upper right corner is reminescent of Kushan coinage. 7.47gm.
Samudragupta Standard Type with crescent
Crescent over the Kings head. King shown wearing long tailed coat with beaded trousers, pearl necklace and earrings.
Note: On this coin, the Garuda is shown adorned with Pearls matching the design of the Kings clothing.
Class I, Var D with Dagger
SAMUDRAGUPTA STANDARD TYPE WITH DAGGER COIN
Dagger on right at Kings waist. 7.45gm
SAMUDRAGUPTA STANDARD W DAGGER COIN
Samudragupta Sceptre with Dagger Coin
CLASS I, Var D
King shown with Dagger at waist. 7.80gm.
Class I, Var E Legend starts on left
SAMUDRAGUPTA STANDARD W DAGGER COIN
Very Rare Variety: Dagger at waist AND Legend starts on the left at VII O'clock. 7.37 gm. Legend starting at VII - samarasatavitatavijayo........ puraji... King standing left, holding a royal Sceptre and sprinkling incense over an altar, Samudra under Kings left hand, Garuda topped standard.
Rev. Legend off flan, goddess Lakshmi seated facing on throne, holding cornucopiae and diedem.
BMC pl.I, 10. Bayana Hoard pl.II, 7. Altekar, Corpus pl.II, 5. Small flan.
CLASS I, Var F
Legend starts on 2 O'clock and is always written in a straight vertical line.
Extremely rare variety - only 1 other coin known to exist: British Museum BMC G.D., Plate I.11
SAMUDRAGUPTA STANDARD CL I, Var F
Very rare variety
Legend on Obverse in a straight line: Samarasatavita ... Samudra under left arm, 7.67 gms.
BMC plI, 11. Bayana Hoard p. II, 11. Altekar Corpus pl. II, 5.
CLASS I, Var. G
Samudra - Gupta under Kings left arm on obverse.
SAMUDRAGUPTA STANDARD TYPE VARIETY G COIN
Class I, Variety G
Nimbate King standing to left, pointing to altar with right hand and holding scepter in left. Garuda standard to left, Samudra-Gupta flanking the royal Scepter. 7.59gm.
Legend begins at 7 O'Clock: Samarasatavitatavijayo jitaripurajito divam jayati -The Invincible (king) who had won victories on a hundred battlefields and conquered the enemies, wins the heaven.
Reverse: Nimbate goddess seated facing on throne, holding noose in right hand and cornucopia in left, symbol - upper left.
Legend : Parakramah (all powerful)
Ex G.M. Browne Collection
SAMUDRAGUPTA STANDARD TYPE COIN
Class I, Variety G
Goddess on reverse is shown without a halo. Mostly all coins in this Type show the goddess with a halo.
SAMUDRAGUPTA STANDARD TYPE COIN
Samudragupta, nimbate, standing left, holding a royal Sceptre and sprinkling incense over altar; Garuda standard behind altar Brahmi legend around.
Rev goddess Sri- Lakshmi, nimbate, seated on throne with two legs, holding diadem and cornucopiae; tamgha to left, legend Parakramah in the right field.
Weight 7.7gm
(BMC II, 2; Coinage of the Gupta Empire, Altekar: Plate II no.7).
Samudragupta Sceptre Class I Var G on Platform
CLASS I, Var H - New Variety
Samudragupta,
nimbate, standing left on a platform, holding a royal Sceptre and sprinkling
incense over altar; Garuda standard behind altar Brahmi legend around. The King also has a dagger as this right side.
Rev goddess Sri- Lakshmi, nimbate, seated on throne with two legs, holding diadem and cornucopiae; tamgha to left, legend Parakramah in the right field.
Weight 7.4gm
The depiction of the King standing on a platform is very rare in Gupta coins.
CLASS II - Legend on reverse is Sri Vikramah (all victorious)
Samudragupta's biruda (Imperial Title) was Parakramah. In 1940 a hoard of Gupta gold coins was discovered at the village of Bamnala in Nimar district in Madhaya Pradesh. One of the coins in this hoard was a Samudragupta Sceptre coin with a biruda of Sri-Vikramah. Sri-Vikramah is the Imperial Title of Chandragupta II, not Samudragupta... so one has to wonder if this coin was struck at a time just when Chandragupta II had assumed the throne and the mint was transitioning over to designs for the new King and where old dies of Samudragupta were still around. It is possible that while the Obverse of the coin features the King Samudragupta, the reverse features the dies from earliest of the Chandragupta II Archer coins of Class I, where the Goddess is seated on the throne.
These coins below are the only known 2 examples of this Class II known to exist.
Samudragupta Standard Type Class II with Sri Vikramah
7.61gms, Legend starts at VII O'clock, Sri-Vikramah biruda on reverse.
SAMUDRAGUPTA STANDARD VAR E COIN
Legend starts on the left at VII O'clock. Reverse Biruda: Sri-Vikramah
Beautiful design in that the Gauda Bird is shown with eyes.
CLASS III - "Kushan" type
Var A - With Sword
Also referred to as the Punjab type, this coin could be considered as a transition coin from the Kushan style coins to a more Indianised style.
In Crude Brahmi script - Under Kings arm ... "Samudra".
King wearing turban and dhoti, holding rajdanda (royal standard) in left hand, sprinkling incense over ceramonial fire with right hand, sword hanging at waist. Lakshmi seated on bench on Reverse.
SAMUDRAGUPTA STANDARD TYPE COIN
CLASS III, Var. B - With a club at Kings Left
(7.74 g, 12h).
Samudra standing facing, head left, sacrificing over altar with right hand and holding royal Sceptre with left hand. Filleted trident to left, Brahmi "Pu" to left of King.
"Samudra" to inner right, "Gadakhara" to outer right. A long Club or Staff at King's left side.
Goddess Lakshmi or Ardoxsho seated facing, holding filleted investiture garland and cornucopia.
This "usurper" is unknown apart from his coins. Based on stylistic incongruities with traditional Kushan numismatic iconography (cf. MK 599), the use of ad hoc mints, rather than the usual sites employed by others, and the use of "Samudra", Göbl argued for a field commander striking on behalf of Samudragupta in a region which had not yet been incorporated into the Gupta realm, but where Kushan dinars would have been the accepted currency.
