Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3044 3-4 January 2016
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GRECO-BACTRIAN KINGDOM. Demetrius I (ca. 200-185 BC). AR tetradrachm (34mm, 17.00 gm, 11h). Diademed and draped bust of Demetrius right, wearing elephant's skin headdress / BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΔHMHTPIOY, Heracles standing facing, crowning himself with wreath held in right hand and cradling club in left arm draped with lion skin; monogram to inner left. Bopearachchi Série 1F. SNG ANS 192. An impressive piece, well struck on an immense flan. NGC Choice XF 5/5 - 4/5. The unusual elephant headdress worn by Demetrius on this tetradrachm recalls the similar headgear sported by Alexander the Great on early coins of Ptolemaic Egypt, referring to his conquests in northern India. Demetrius also campaigned in India while serving a long apprenticeship under his father, Euthydemus I, as recorded on a dedicatory stone recently discovered north of Ai Khanoum in Afghanistan. After succeeding to the throne, he launched an invasion of Northern India that extended Greek control into modern Pakistan. The historian Strabo claims "more tribes were subdued by [Demetrius] than Alexander."
Estimate: 2500-3500 USD
GRECO-BACTRIAN KINGDOM. Demetrius I (ca. 200-185 BC). AR tetradrachm (34mm, 17.00 gm, 11h). Diademed and draped bust of Demetrius right, wearing elephant's skin headdress / BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΔHMHTPIOY, Heracles standing facing, crowning himself with wreath held in right hand and cradling club in left arm draped with lion skin; monogram to inner left. Bopearachchi Série 1F. SNG ANS 192. An impressive piece, well struck on an immense flan. NGC Choice XF 5/5 - 4/5. The unusual elephant headdress worn by Demetrius on this tetradrachm recalls the similar headgear sported by Alexander the Great on early coins of Ptolemaic Egypt, referring to his conquests in northern India. Demetrius also campaigned in India while serving a long apprenticeship under his father, Euthydemus I, as recorded on a dedicatory stone recently discovered north of Ai Khanoum in Afghanistan. After succeeding to the throne, he launched an invasion of Northern India that extended Greek control into modern Pakistan. The historian Strabo claims "more tribes were subdued by [Demetrius] than Alexander."
Estimate: 2500-3500 USD