Sale: CNG 60, Lot: 1063. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 May 2002.  Sold For $575. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ALCHON HUNS? Imitating Yazdgard I. After 420 AD. AR Drachm (3.86 gm). Isolated Ghandaran(?) issue. Draped bust 3/4 right, wearing helmet-shaped crown ornamented with four crescents and a beaded sun-disk, four streamers at back; uncertain Baktrian or Sogdian legend / Fire altar with head of Ahura Mazda, flanked by crowned attendants. Göbl Hunnen -; Göbl Supplementa Orientalia III, 3 (Em. 304); cf. MACW 1326. Nice VF, reverse encrustation. Extremely rare, listed as unique by Göbl. ($300)

This issue is very close stylistically to both the Sasanian and Kushano-Sasanian types. It is certainly a fairly early issue, owing to the good style and faithfulness of the bust type to its predeceasors. Despite the likeness, the coin is clearly Hunnic, as the globe atop the crown has been reappropriated to the form of a sun disk, a device especially favored by later Huns. The crescents around the crown are also an addition to the Sasanian prototype.