Unique Early Issue Stater

Triton XIV, Lot: 446. Estimate $20000. Sold for $19000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

INDIA, Kushan Empire. Vima Kadphises. Circa AD 100-127/8. AV Stater (19mm, 8.00 g, 12h). Mint I (A). 1st emission. BACIΛEYC O[O] HMO KAΔΦICHC, diademed and crowned half-length bust of Vima Kadphises left on clouds, holding mace-scepter forward in right hand, left hand on hilt; flames at shoulders, tamgha to right / “Maharajasa rajadirajasa trarvaloga iśvarasa mahiśvarasa hima kathphśasa tradara” in Karosthi, ithyphallic Siva standing facing, holding trident in right hand, left arm resting on the bull Nandi, who stands right behind; Buddhist triratana (“Three Jewels”) to left. Bopearachchi, Premiers, Série IV, 6 var. = Bopearachchi, Some, 7 var. (bust right; same rev. die); MK 2 var. (bust right; same rev. die [R1], but cf. MK 17 [for obv. type with mace-scepter forward]) = Göbl, Münzprägung, 2 var. (bust right; same rev. die) = J.M. Rosenfeld, The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans (Berkeley, 1967), 26 var. (bust right; same rev. die) = BMC 4 and pl. 25, 8 var. (bust right; same rev. die) = A.F.R. Hoernle, “Gold Coins from Jalalabad,” Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, April 1879, pp. 127-128 and pl. II, X var. (bust right; same rev. die) = Errington & Curtis, Fig. 116 (obv. only illustrated); Donum Burns -. VF, a few traces of encrustation. Unique.

The gold issues of Vima Kadphises are the first struck by the Kushans in that metal and reflect their new, wide-ranging economic power. By the early second century AD, Kushan control of the Silk Road, and the immense wealth its control provided, enabled the Kushans to strike quantities of impressive coin types which emphasized their new-found importance. The coronation of Vima Kadphises, the first truly independent Kushan ruler, allowed for the opportunity to issue a large number of gold dinars, as well as multiples and fractions. While the weight standard was based on the Roman aureus, the imagery on these issues represents a synthesis of Hellenistic and Central Asian cultures. Adopting Greco-Roman models, the king’s portrait displays a confident realism, and, although his costume may reflect the style of the Parthian court, it nevertheless possesses an underlying forcefulness which is distinctly Kushan, revealing an earlier nomadic ethnic identity. His power as independent ruler was emphasized by the inclusion of weapons as adjuncts: the mace-scepter, the sword, and the spear, symbols of his new ability to coerce and pacify. The presence of the club of Herakles, an already-familiar hero throughout Central Asia, not only gave the king a Greco-Roman, and, consequently, more cosmopolitan association, but also implied that he was a Herakles redivivus, a mortal able to achieve mythical tasks. Such divine association is carried further with Vima’s depiction above the clouds. While it might be interpreted as his wish to be viewed a god, being associated with gods, or his elevation over other men, the inclusion of such imagery may, in fact, indicate a special status unattainable by others. The presence of the flame at Vima’s shoulders, a manifestation of kavaem khvareno (the Iranian concept of royal good fortune), reflects the status and power bestowed on a worthy ruler by the gods as a talisman of his lawful reign and sureity of his success. The depiction of Vima’s left hand being covered, a Parthian convention, symbolizing subjection to a higher power, namely Siva, who is depicted on his coinage, further suggests that the Kushan king saw himself as that god’s functionary to rule over his newly-won resources and territory.