Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3044 3-4 January 2016
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INDO-GREEK KINGDOMS. Agathocleia and Strato I Soter (ca. 110-80 BC). AR Indic tetradrachm (28mm, 9.81 gm, 11h). BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΣΩTHPOΣ ΣTPATΩNOΣ KAI AΓAΘOKΛEIΑΣ, cojoined draped busts of Strato and Agathocleia right, Strato in foreground and diademed / Kharosthi inscription, Athena Alcidemus advancing left, brandishing thunderbolt held in right hand and shield on left arm; monogram to lower left . Bopearachchi 6A. HGC 12, 314. SNG ANS 987. Struck in choice metal on a broad flan. Very rare and likely the finest example extant! NGC Choice AU 5/5 - 3/5.After the Greco-Bactrian succumbed to invasion circa 130 BC, the Indo-Greek Kingdoms to the east in present-day Pakistan and northern India, shielded by the Hindu-Kush, survived for another 150 years. The realm was seldom, if ever, unified after the reign of the great Menander I (circa 165-130 BC), and we have little more to go on than the coins of the realm, which were now largely struck on the reduced Indic standard and employed bi-lingual legends in both Greek (obverse) as Karosthi, a local Indian script. A profusion of kings, and one queen, succeeded Menander, and the exact sequence is subject to considerable dispute. It was once thought Agathocleia may have been a related to Menander, either his surviving wife or a daughter, and was the mother of Strato I, for whom she ruled as regent for several years. This rare coin of the joint reign display both of their portraits. It now appears the joint reign occurred about 20 years after Menander's death, indicating Agathocleia was the widow of one of the intervening kings, perhaps Zoilus I, Nicias or Theophilus.
Estimate: 6000-8000 USD
INDO-GREEK KINGDOMS. Agathocleia and Strato I Soter (ca. 110-80 BC). AR Indic tetradrachm (28mm, 9.81 gm, 11h). BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΣΩTHPOΣ ΣTPATΩNOΣ KAI AΓAΘOKΛEIΑΣ, cojoined draped busts of Strato and Agathocleia right, Strato in foreground and diademed / Kharosthi inscription, Athena Alcidemus advancing left, brandishing thunderbolt held in right hand and shield on left arm; monogram to lower left . Bopearachchi 6A. HGC 12, 314. SNG ANS 987. Struck in choice metal on a broad flan. Very rare and likely the finest example extant! NGC Choice AU 5/5 - 3/5.After the Greco-Bactrian succumbed to invasion circa 130 BC, the Indo-Greek Kingdoms to the east in present-day Pakistan and northern India, shielded by the Hindu-Kush, survived for another 150 years. The realm was seldom, if ever, unified after the reign of the great Menander I (circa 165-130 BC), and we have little more to go on than the coins of the realm, which were now largely struck on the reduced Indic standard and employed bi-lingual legends in both Greek (obverse) as Karosthi, a local Indian script. A profusion of kings, and one queen, succeeded Menander, and the exact sequence is subject to considerable dispute. It was once thought Agathocleia may have been a related to Menander, either his surviving wife or a daughter, and was the mother of Strato I, for whom she ruled as regent for several years. This rare coin of the joint reign display both of their portraits. It now appears the joint reign occurred about 20 years after Menander's death, indicating Agathocleia was the widow of one of the intervening kings, perhaps Zoilus I, Nicias or Theophilus.
Estimate: 6000-8000 USD