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Bactria. Diodotos I, c. 255-235 BC. Gold Stater (

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:5,000.00 USD Estimated At:10,000.00 - 12,500.00 USD
Bactria. Diodotos I, c. 255-235 BC. Gold Stater (
<Our item number 115723><B>Bactria. Diodotos I, c. 255-235 BC. Gold Stater &#40;8.28 g&#41;. Issued in the name of Antiochos II of Syria. Mint A &#40;near Aï Khanoum&#41;.</B> Diademed head of Diodotos right. <I>Reverse</I>: Zeus Bremetes advancing right, brandishing thunderbolt and aegis, eagle below at left, N above; at sides: BASILEOS ANTIOKhOU. Newell ESM 713, and pl. LIII, 5 = Mitchiner ACW 63; Bopearachchi --, but cf. p. 147, note 1; SC 629; cf. Holt Series A, Group 7 &#40;tetradrachm&#41;; Fr-515. Full clean strike, with areas of luster. The portrait quite elegant, with the bold stylizations often seen in Hellenistic art from the East. Rare. An especially fine example, without the usual test cut. <B>NGC graded Uncirculated.</B> <BR><BR>Besides being an adjunct to Seleucid gold coinage, most of which is extremely rare to begin with, this gold piece is the first in the line of the distinctive and colorful Greco-Bactrian coinages, which produced some of the most striking and interesting portraiture in Hellenistic numismatics. <BR><BR>What would become the Greco-Bactrian and, later, the Indo-Greek Kingdoms was born of Alexander the Great&#39;s conquest of the Bactria-Sogdian satrapies on his forward march to the alluring territories of India during 327-326 BC. Then part of the southeastern perimeters of the vast Persian Empire, Bactria passed into Macedonian hands whereupon it was promptly colonized by Greek settlers and Alexander&#39;s veterans. After the conqueror&#39;s death, the lands passed into the control of the Seleucid dynasty, which had also assumed possession of Alexander&#39;s Syrian and Mesopotamian territories. <BR><BR>Towards the middle of the 2nd century, during the reign of the Seleucid king, Antiochus II, the satrap of Bactria, Diodotos, revolted against his master and proclaimed himself king. There are still questions by scholars as to what extant the &#34;revolt&#34; truly was such. Perhaps it was merely a progressive assumption of prerogatives and sovereign p owers by Diodotos in the far distant realm of the over-extended Seleucid Empire, which was already struggling to maintain its integrity as a unified whole. Under Diodotos, and successive kings, the kingdom would survive in changing forms for over two centuries, until around 10 BC. Their plentiful coinage more than suggests the affluence of this kingdom -- its basis being the east-west &#40;China-Iran&#41; trade routes, many of which it straddled. Added to this was the trade of luxury goods and exotic animals out of India, which likewise passed through its borders.<BR><BR>This gold stater, even at this early stage, already shows the bold statement portraiture will achieve in this kingdom&#39;s coinage. We see here in the high relief image of Diodotos a melding of Hellenistic flamboyance &#40;then flowering from the influences of the non-Greek populations of the Hellenistic kingdoms&#41;, the imperial and regal stylizations of Achaemenid court art, and the tactile and sensuous quality of Indian art. It is these little numismatic works of transformed art that will be the true heirs to Diodotos and his successors -- giving us in these days a view, however slight, of the personalities and culture of this lost and mainly forgotten empire. <BR>Estimated Value &#36;10,000 - 12,500. <BR><BR>Our item number 115723<BR><IMAGES><P ALIGN="CENTER"><IMG SRC="http://www.goldbergcoins.net/liveauction/47jpegs/115723.jpg"> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.goldbergcoins.net/liveauction/47jpegs/115723N2.jpg"> </P></IMAGES>