Ancient India, Gupta Empire, Silver Drachm of SkandaGupta (450-475AD), ‘Peacock’ type. 2.41 Gms, 14.64 mm, Obverse has King’s Crowned bust facing right, date in front of the effigy. The reverse has Fan-tailed splendor peacock in centre, Brahmi legend in chaste Sanskrit around Vijitavaniravanipati Jayati Divam Skandagupto ‘yam विजितवनिरवनिपति जयति दिवं स्कन्दगुप्तोऽयं (‘Having conquered the Earth and the lords of the Earth, Skanda Gupta wins over this Heaven’). The Gupta emperors in the core imperial territory of modern day Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. A wonderful portrait struck coin with legends on reverse. The date is visible on the obverse in front of the bust, written vertically at right edge. On most coins its of the flan. the Brahmi numerals used here were a play on the letters and numerals : the number 100 looks very much like the Brahmi ‘Gu’, the number 40 looks very similar to the Brahmi letter ‘pta’, and the last number is a Brahmi 4 or 7 = year 144 or 147 of the Gupta era. while some of the dates written on the obverse are similar in Brahmi letters ‘Gupta’. For coins struck by Skandagupta in the year 140+, on other coins struck by Budhagupta clear dates can be seen with dates of GE 175. John Allan listed the dates for each of the British museum silver coins in his book published in 1914 AD. Altekar, Parmeshwari Lal Gupta, Nisar Ahmad all concurred that these were dates, however, sometimes they debated on the reading of the actual date as the letters may be off flan. These Brahmi Numerals continued to evolve and by the time of Skandagupta, the numerals used on coins appear to be slightly different in style from those seen used on coins of western Kshatrapra & Chandragupta II. Altekar Class IV Madhyadesha type, var. A, BMC Gupta pg. 129, 523; MACW 4883, TOTGE S. Kumar Page 354 # Var.A, Very Fine+, Rare. SMR 254