Sale: CNG 67, Lot: 1068. Estimate $600.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 September 2004.  Sold For $2800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

GUPTA KINGS of INDIA. Kumaragupta I. 414-455 AD. AV Dinar (with mount, 9.97 gm). Tiger Slayer type. Kumaragupta drawing bow on lion, who falls over backward; Ku in field / The goddess Laksmi, nimbate, standing left, holding lotus and feeding grapes to peacock. Set in a gold ring mount inscribed BAYANA HOARD/KUMAR I/TIGER SLAYER in three lines. BMC Guptas 244; Altekar, Corpus pl. XII, 11; Altekar, Bayana Hoard 1706; cf. MACW 4811 (Chandragupta). Good VF, set in gold ring mount. Very rare type. ($600)

From the Garth R. Drewry Collection. Ex Bayana Hoard (not in catalog).

A hoard of at least 1821 Gupta gold coins was discovered in February 1946 near Bayana in the Bharatpur State by small boys scavenging for brass shell casings following a hunting expedition by the Maharaja. A selection of coins from the hoard was set into jewelry for the Maharaja, for distribution as gifts. The piece presented here was part of a bracelet or necklace that contained several of the scarce Tiger Slayer types of Kumaragupta I.