Very fine, Extremely rare.

Almost two decades ago, R Krishnamurthy published extremely rare coins of the same type, with legends Makkottai and Kuttuvan Kottai, attributing them to Chera rulers Kottampalattu Tunjiyam Makkotai and Vel Kezhu Kuttuvan of c. 2st century BC. This coin clearly bears the same name-ending ('Kottai'), however the part of the ruler's name before the last two words is distinctly different than that seen on the coins published by Krishnamurthy. The third visible letter appears to be the Tamil 'Zh' appended with a vowel sign of 'u' under it, but it could also be a 'Ň' sound, as seen in the KuttuvaŇ Kottai legend. As such, it is evident that this is a silver coin of a hitherto unknown Chera ruler and thus, greatly significant to Numismatics of ancient Tamilakam. Further research involving a deep reading of Sangam texts is needed to arrive at a conclusive attribution of the coin.