Trident, I wonder?

[moonmoth]

This Nezak-style coin was sold as having been found in the Kashmir Smast, said to be a romantic-sounding cave kingdom.  I have a couple of coins from there arnd they look to me like coins made elswhere, even if they were found there.  This one is 16mm and weighs one gram.

I recently saw a photo of a coin similar to this, but larger, which was said to have a trident crown, though it doesn't look much like a trident to me.  But it's certainly not the winged buffalo crown of the Nezak Malkas.  If this is a trident, then this would be a coin of the Turk Shahis, the second Nezak dynasty.  It has the typical Nezak fire altar with wheels to each side on the reverse.

Can anyone identify this and say what the object is in front of the ruler on the obverse?

Thanks.

[Howard Cole]

This coin is listed in Mitchiner's Ancient & Classical World as numbers 1534 and 1535, your coin  being more like 1535.  He says what is in front of the bust is the Pehlvi legend that has been reduced to one character.  He calls this coin an AE quarter drachm, with a weight between 1 and 1 1/2 grams.  It is attributed to Hephthalites between 475 to 560/576 AD, with the Napki Malik legend.  Mitchiner calls this series the Gandharan series with bare head.

[moonmoth]

Thanks, Howard.  As usual, you are the man who knows!