158, Lot: 106. Estimate $100. Sold for $62. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

HEPHTHALITES. Baktria or Sogdiana Region. Circa 680-720. AR Drachm (30mm, 2.89 g). Imitating Sasanian king Peroz. Crowned bust right resembling Peroz; Baktrian legend and two tribal symbols in margins; countermark: helmeted head left / Fire altar flanked by attendants, crescent and star above; two countermarks: bare head facing left and combined camel/elephant head. Göbl, Dokumente Em 289, with c/ms 73 / 12, 72. VF, some porosity.

Both Göbl and Walker in their lists of Hephthalite countermarks list c/m 12 as a reclining Baktrian camel. On this piece, it is very clear that the symbol is composed of two animals, with the hump of the camel forming the head of an elephant.