Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XVI 26 Sep 2018
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Seleukid Empire, Antiochos II Theos AV Stater. Aï Khanoum, 261-246 BC. Diademed head of Antiochos I right / Apollo Delphinios seated to left on omphalos, holding arrow and resting left hand upon bow set on ground; ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ to right, ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ to left, monogram in left field. SC 435.1; ESM 695. 8.50g, 18mm, 5h.
Good Very Fine, minor scuff on neck. Extremely Rare.
Ex private German collection.
Recent scholarship has reattributed a series of gold, silver and bronze coins with the mint mark of a delta within a circle, or close variants, from the ancient capital of Baktria, Baktra to previously unknown the city of Aï Khanoum in northeast Afghanistan. The history of this Hellenistic city is unclear - it was possibly founded by Alexander the Great as one of the military settlements left in this region, and could have been the settlement of Alexandeia Oxeiana. Another theory is that it was founded by Antiochos I in the early third century BC as a royal residence while Baktria was under Seleukid rule. Either way, the archaeological evidence clearly demonstrates that during the Hellenistic era Aï Khanoum was a major city. The excavations reveal that the city had a palace complex as well as a treasury, gymnasium, mausoleums and temples in addition to the discovery of unstruck bronze flans, highly suggestive that a mint was active here, although its dates of operation are not clear. Baktra had been suggested as the mint location only because, as Newell (Newell The Coinage of the Eastern Seleucid Mints. From Seleucus I to Antiochus III. 1938 pp. 229) wrote, the "only logical location for a large and active royal mint...[was] at Baktra, the political, commercial and geographical centre of the entire province."
However, a variant of the mintmark seen on this coin was found on bricks at one of the oldest parts of the ancient city of Aï Khanoum, a factor which led Kritt in his 2016 work 'The Seleucid Mint of Aï Khanoum' (Classical Numismatic Studies No. 9) to reattribute coins bearing this mintmark to this city. This was supported by Houghton and Lorber in 'Seleukid Coins: a Comprehensive Catalogue' who reassigned this whole series to Aï Khanoum and further argue that Baktra could not have issued these coins as a newly discovered bronze coin (catalogue number 283A) depicted the river god of the Oxus, which flowed by the city of Aï Khanoum, not Baktra.
Good Very Fine, minor scuff on neck. Extremely Rare.
Ex private German collection.
Recent scholarship has reattributed a series of gold, silver and bronze coins with the mint mark of a delta within a circle, or close variants, from the ancient capital of Baktria, Baktra to previously unknown the city of Aï Khanoum in northeast Afghanistan. The history of this Hellenistic city is unclear - it was possibly founded by Alexander the Great as one of the military settlements left in this region, and could have been the settlement of Alexandeia Oxeiana. Another theory is that it was founded by Antiochos I in the early third century BC as a royal residence while Baktria was under Seleukid rule. Either way, the archaeological evidence clearly demonstrates that during the Hellenistic era Aï Khanoum was a major city. The excavations reveal that the city had a palace complex as well as a treasury, gymnasium, mausoleums and temples in addition to the discovery of unstruck bronze flans, highly suggestive that a mint was active here, although its dates of operation are not clear. Baktra had been suggested as the mint location only because, as Newell (Newell The Coinage of the Eastern Seleucid Mints. From Seleucus I to Antiochus III. 1938 pp. 229) wrote, the "only logical location for a large and active royal mint...[was] at Baktra, the political, commercial and geographical centre of the entire province."
However, a variant of the mintmark seen on this coin was found on bricks at one of the oldest parts of the ancient city of Aï Khanoum, a factor which led Kritt in his 2016 work 'The Seleucid Mint of Aï Khanoum' (Classical Numismatic Studies No. 9) to reattribute coins bearing this mintmark to this city. This was supported by Houghton and Lorber in 'Seleukid Coins: a Comprehensive Catalogue' who reassigned this whole series to Aï Khanoum and further argue that Baktra could not have issued these coins as a newly discovered bronze coin (catalogue number 283A) depicted the river god of the Oxus, which flowed by the city of Aï Khanoum, not Baktra.