Heritage World Coin Auctions
Long Beach Signature Sale 3057 7-8 Sep 2017
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Ancients
GRECO-BACTRIAN KINGDOM. Eucratides I the Great (ca. 171-145 BC), with Heliocles and Laodice. AR tetradrachm (30mm, 16.81 gm, 12h). Choice XF. Dynastic pedigree issue. ΒΑΣΙΛΕYΣ ΜΕΓΑΣI EYKPATIΔΗΣ, heroic bust of Eucratides with head turned left, viewed from back, wearing broad-brimmed and crested Bactrian helmet adorned with bull's horn and ear, brandishing spear in his right hand / HΛΙoΚΛΕΟΥΣ above, ΚΑΙ ΛΑΟΔΙΚΗΕ below, jugate draped busts of Heliocles (bareheaded) and Laodice, (diademed), right; monogram behind. HGC 12, 134 (R2). Bopearachchi Série 16A. SNG ANS 528-9. Rare! Metal delamination on face and neck of Eucratides, graffito X before face, otherwise nicely centered on a broad flan.
On this remarkable "pedigree" tetradrachm and the following lot, the Bactrian king Eucratides pairs an obverse portrait of himself, in heroic mode, with the reverse dual portraits of his his parents, named Heliocles and Laodice. Heliocles is shown as bare-headed (perhaps he was a powerful but non-royal magistrate or general?) while Laodice appears to wear a royal diadem. Was she the daughter of a previous Bactrian king, perhaps Euthydemus or Demetrius I? Or, was she a princess of the Seleucid ruling dynasty (the name Laodice being quite common among the women of this house)? Pending the discovery of some parchment of inscription that clarifies his lineage, we cannot but guess.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 2000-2500 USD
GRECO-BACTRIAN KINGDOM. Eucratides I the Great (ca. 171-145 BC), with Heliocles and Laodice. AR tetradrachm (30mm, 16.81 gm, 12h). Choice XF. Dynastic pedigree issue. ΒΑΣΙΛΕYΣ ΜΕΓΑΣI EYKPATIΔΗΣ, heroic bust of Eucratides with head turned left, viewed from back, wearing broad-brimmed and crested Bactrian helmet adorned with bull's horn and ear, brandishing spear in his right hand / HΛΙoΚΛΕΟΥΣ above, ΚΑΙ ΛΑΟΔΙΚΗΕ below, jugate draped busts of Heliocles (bareheaded) and Laodice, (diademed), right; monogram behind. HGC 12, 134 (R2). Bopearachchi Série 16A. SNG ANS 528-9. Rare! Metal delamination on face and neck of Eucratides, graffito X before face, otherwise nicely centered on a broad flan.
On this remarkable "pedigree" tetradrachm and the following lot, the Bactrian king Eucratides pairs an obverse portrait of himself, in heroic mode, with the reverse dual portraits of his his parents, named Heliocles and Laodice. Heliocles is shown as bare-headed (perhaps he was a powerful but non-royal magistrate or general?) while Laodice appears to wear a royal diadem. Was she the daughter of a previous Bactrian king, perhaps Euthydemus or Demetrius I? Or, was she a princess of the Seleucid ruling dynasty (the name Laodice being quite common among the women of this house)? Pending the discovery of some parchment of inscription that clarifies his lineage, we cannot but guess.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 2000-2500 USD