Sale: CNG 75, Lot: 645. Estimate $4000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 23 May 2007.  Sold For $4250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BAKTRIA, Greco-Baktrian Kingdom. Eukratides I. Circa 170-145 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.51 g, 12h). Diademed and draped bust of Eukratides right, wearing helmet adorned with bull's horn and ear / Jugate draped busts of Heliokles and Laodike, diademed, right; monogram behind. Bopearachchi Série 15 var. (monogram); SNG ANS -. Near EF. Well centered on a broad flan of excellent metal. Rare.

Eukratides was a usurper who successfully challenged Antimachos II and Demetrios II for the throne. While from a noble family, he was not the son of a previous Baktrian king, as evidenced by the fact that his mother, Laodike, wears the royal diadem but his father, Heliokles, does not. To strengthen his position, and declare his intentions of founding a dynasty, he struck his "pedigree" coinage, naming his parents.