NumisBids
  
Heritage World Coin Auctions
January Signature Sale 3089  21-22 Jan 2021
View prices realized

Lot 32136

Starting price: 2500 USD
Price realized: 7000 USD
Find similar lots
Share this lot: Share by Email
Ancients
BACTRIAN KINGDOM. Diodotus I Soter, as Satrap (ca. 255-235 BC). AV stater (17mm, 8.22 gm, 5h). NGC Choice AU 4/5 - 4/5, Fine Style. Mint A (Aï Khanoum or nearby), in the name of Antiochus II. Diademed head of Diodotus I right; dotted border / ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ, Zeus, nude, striding left, seen from behind, brandishing thunderbolt with right hand, aegis over outstretched left arm; eagle with raised wings standing left to left of feet, wreath in inner left field, dotted border. Bopearachchi 1A. SC 629.2. Attractive portrait, without test cut which typically plagues this issue.

From the Norman Tsacalis Collection. Ex Heritage Auctions, 3046 CICF (16 April 2016), lot 29159

The traditional attribution of this well-known type holds that it depicts Diodotus I, the first king of independent Bactria, but gives the name of the concurrent Seleucid King, Antiochus II Theos. Under this interpretation, the coin represents the Bactrian Kingdom's transition from being the largest and furthest-flung province of the Seleucid Kingdom to full independence under Diodotus, who later (after about 235 BC) struck coins naming himself as king, or Basileus. A more recent theory put forth by historian Jens Jakobsson in Numismatic Chronicle (2010) posits that "Antiochus Nicator" was an entirely different ruler of Bactria, probably a son of Diodotus I, who ruled concurrently with his father and brother Diodotus II, perhaps ca. 235-220 BC. However, Brian Kritt examines this theory in his publication, "New Discoveries In Bactrian Numismatics" (CNG 8, 2015), and finds that many of the die links used to support the "Antiochus Nicator" theory are either false or incorrectly sequenced. Kritt concludes that the earlier attribution to Diodotus I is most likely correct.

https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/greek/ancients-bactrian-kingdom-diodotus-i-soter-as-satrap-ca-255-235-bc-av-stater-17mm-822-gm-5h-ngc-choice-au/a/3089-32136.s?type=CoinArchives3089

HID02906262019

© 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

Estimate: 5000-7000 USD
Question about this auction? Contact Heritage World Coin Auctions