196, Lot: 53. Estimate $300. Sold for $800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SELEUKID KINGS of SYRIA. Antiochos I Soter. 281-261 BC. AR Drachm (16mm, 4.16 g, 6h). Aï Khanoum or Baktra mint. Diademed head right, of “intermediate” style / Horned and bridled horse head right, with braided, horn-like forelock; Δ in circle to upper right. SC 432.2; ESM 688a (same dies). VF, lightly toned. Excellent metal for issue. Rare.

Ex Classical Numismatic Group 67 (22 September 2004), lot 850.

Antiochos' early issues in Baktria feature a horned horse on the reverse. This type was first introduced in the Seleukid coinage at Susa, under Seleukos I, and became a common icon during his reign. While the exact identification of the steed is not certain the two prevailing theories is that it is either Alexander's famed mount Bucephalos, or the horse that carried Seleukos to safety when he fled Babylon in 315 BC. Seleukos revered this horse, and had it deified and erected a monument to it at Antioch. The reason this icon is featured so prominently on these issues of Antiochos is unknown, however, and it is strange to be featured so prominently in his Baktrian issues, as neither theory of the iconography has a strong connection to Baktria.