Indo-Sasanian coin

Here's another coin show purchase. It is Indo-Sasanian drachm, and I have tentatively identified this as a Chaulukya Dynasty era coin from Saurashtra, Gujarat, or Malwa in western India. This would date from AD 950-1150 (the guy who sold me the coin had it labeled 800-900, but I think it's probably in a slightly later date range.)

The obverse shows the stylized head of a Sasanian king, and the reverse shows a fire altar with two attendants.

...What, you can't see it? I'll outline the pertinent features in red to make them more obvious.

The design is hard to see because this is an example of something one sees from time to time in ancient coins: A very popular design that outlives its cultural context but keeps getting repeated. Over time, the people making and using the coins lose consideration of, or just forget, the original meaning of the symbols on the coin, and just keep using them because that's what money is supposed to look like. This means that the imagery becomes stylized and warped as it is repeated over the decades and centuries, sort of like a message being passed from person to person in that telephone game.

This coin was probably minted centuries after the deaths of the Sasanian king or kings that were depicted on the original coins. I don't know whether or not the die maker knew what he was depicting. Did he know this was the bust of a long-dead king, an altar with two sets of arms tending to the ritual? Did he ever see an example of the older coins?

There are many versions of these coins from a pretty broad region over a long period of time. I don't know if I'll ever nail down a more exact time or location for this coin.