Sale: Triton XII, Lot: 436. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Monday, 5 January 2009.  Sold For $3000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

INDIA, Kushan Empire. Huvishka. Circa AD 152-192. AV Dinar (7.96 g, 12h). Mint I (A). 3rd emission. ÞAOhAhOÞAO OOhÞKI KOÞA[hO] (first 2 h's retrograde), nimbate, diademed, and crowned half-length bust of Huvishka facing on clouds, head left, flames at shoulders, holding mace-scepter in right hand, filleted spear in left over shoulder; pellet on cheek / ÞAOÞhOÞO, Shaoreoro (Ares-Mars) standing facing, head right, holding spear in right hand, and shield set on ground in left; tamgha to left. MK 265 (O2/R- [unlisted rev. die]); Donum Burns -. Near EF. Extremely rare, only the second known, and a unique die combination.

Ex Triton X (9 January 2007), lot 483.

Shaoreoro, like the later Pahlavi Shahrevar, was originally the Hindu Kshathra Vairya, or “Desirable Kingdom.” Like Indra, the chief god of the Rig Veda, Shaoreoro was the genius of Kushan imperial might and the god of the molten metal that was to cover the earth on the Last Day.