Sogdian Attribution Re-Examined

Sale: CNG 75, Lot: 619. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 23 May 2007.  Sold For $670. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BAKTRIA, Greco-Baktrian Kingdom. Euthydemos I. Circa 225-200 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.78 g, 6h). Uncertain mint. Struck circa 215-206 BC. Diademed middle-aged head right / Herakles seated left on lion skin draped over rock, holding club set on rocks; two monograms in exergue. Kritt -; Bopearachchi Série 25A var. (monogram); SNG ANS 180 var. (same); Bopearachchi & Rahman 117 var. (same). Good VF. Unpublished monogram.

The three coins cited above all have the same lower left monogram as this coin, with the letters DI to the lower right. The style of all four is highly consistent; obviously all dies were from the same hand. Although the three published coins are noted as unofficial or Sogdian imitations, the primary argument is stylisically-based, but now seems baseless. All four coins have a fixed die axis, three at 6 o’clock, one at 12 (the Qunduz piece, which, judging from its illustrations, may actually be 6 o’clock), and their weight and style are compatible with official issues. Also, the present piece retains one of the monograms on both varieties, apparently denoting the mint or a mint official (the engraver?), which is consistent with the Kritt’s analysis of the official mints. Although Kritt does not include any of these coins in his analysis, his primary criteria for determining the imitations – die axis and weight – do not apply here. Lastly, the flan of the Qunduz hoard piece, while unusually broad for this period, as noted by Bopearachchi, is insufficient by itself to conclude these four coins are not official.