One identified coin

CSMVS in Mumbai identifies its silver Menander I coin by accession number 7308. The record gives a broad Northwest India findspot, a diameter of 18 millimetres and weight of 2.42 grams. Its date heading is approximately 155–130 BCE. The description identifies a helmeted royal portrait and Athena on the other side, with Greek and Kharoshthi legends. Record those fields together before comparing another example. The broad findspot does not identify a mint, a Punjabi village or an excavated layer. The catalogue’s reading supplies the script identification here; this guide offers no new transcription of the coin.[1]

Preserve the unknown mint

The University of Canterbury’s exhibition catalogue provides a useful comparison from Canterbury Museum, numbered CM: NUM1994.708. It describes a silver drachma, 17 millimetres across and weighing 2.5 grams, dated approximately 160–145 BCE. Its mint field explicitly remains unknown. That absence belongs in a research note alongside the measurements and identifier. A similar ruler, metal or design is not a reason to fill the blank with a familiar city. The different catalogue date ranges should also remain attached to their respective objects, rather than being silently converted into one agreed reign chronology.[2]

Types, specimens and rights

Coins of the Bactrian and Indo-Greek Rulers, or BIGR, works at another scale. Its project introduction credits Gunnar Dumke and Simon Glenn’s typology and explains its deliberate avoidance of precise dates and mint attributions where knowledge is uncertain. Use the type catalogue to organise comparisons, then retain the individual museum identifier when returning to a physical specimen’s description. The project also separates licensing: its coin-type data use the Open Database License, while specimen images and data remain subject to their institutions’ rights. A type link therefore does not itself grant permission to reproduce a museum photograph.[3]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai. Menander I, accession7308 — Networks of the Past ↗primary museum object catalogue · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Complete Details and Description: accession7308; Findspot, Measurements, date heading, obverse/reverse descriptions. Accessed 2026-11-02.Museum metadata, not object/photograph examination or independent inscription reading. The older museum guidebook was a search lead, not a read source.Return to One identified coin, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. University of Canterbury exhibition catalogue; Canterbury Museum object. Coins of Menander I Soter: Figure1, CM:NUM1994.708 ↗institutional exhibition catalogue · Source date: 2025-11-28 · Locator: Catalogue Figure1, especially Mint, Diameter, Weight, Date and Accession fields; complete Figures1–3 also read. Accessed 2026-11-02.The exact individual legend transliterations and disputed denomination labels are not independently endorsed. Images have separate institution copyright.Return to Preserve the unknown mint, paragraph 1 ↑
  3. American Numismatic Society; BIGR / OXUS-INDUS project. Coins of the Bactrian and Indo-Greek Rulers: project introduction ↗primary research-project documentation · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Complete project introduction: uncertainty, new Dumke/Glenn typology, stable identifiers and final licensing paragraph. Accessed 2026-11-02.The actual relevant introduction and About page were read. Ashmolean project context was also read, but no claim depends on the inaccessible individual Menander13.3 detail. A projected print-publication date is not treated as a completed publication.Return to Types, specimens and rights, paragraph 1 ↑
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Record PH-COL-0055 · English edition · human review not performed