QUERY: BAKED CLAY COINS

"I am not really sure what these are and would appreciate others' insights. A Google search of baked clay coins mostly comes up with art projects to make them and not listings of them, but I feel that these were genuinely made to serve the purpose of coins prior to 100 B.C.E. in Bactria.

"The first coin seems to have a portrait of Eucratides and a reverse with some writing in an ancient non Greek script. The second seems to have 2 reverses, one side looking to say Demetrius and the other side Victory or maybe an Eagle holding a wreath. The first weighs 4.30 grams and the second weighs 4.60 grams. Both are encrusted with some dirt that is about the color of what is seen in Bactria. My speculation is that these were made as burial objects by someone who couldn't afford to bury coins and used images that they liked from other coins that they were familiar with. I conclude that they were therefore made to be coins. The orientation of the dies is random and I am not sure if I show them in the correct orientation. Originally, I was looking at the portrait of Eucratides upsidedown and thought it was a flower pot.

"I acquired these 40 or more years ago from a jewelry store which was next to Macy's on Union Square in San Francisco. I am not sure why I wandered into that store, because I do not buy jewelry, but there was a little box of ancient coins in poor condition in the back of their last case. There was no one in the shop but there was an old guy who spoke little English sitting on a chair in the back. I asked him about buying the coins, but didn't really get an answer. He seemed to say that the shop keeper was his daughter who would be back in a while. After waiting a while, she didn't return. I figured out that the guy was from Afghanistan and he got them from a friend who found them some place back home. I eventually bought these from him for a few dollars."