CNG 91, Lot: 446. Estimate $20000. Sold for $37500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

INDO-SKYTHIANS. temp. Azes. Circa 58-12 BC. AV Half Stater (17mm, 4.28 g, 6h). Pushkalavati mint. JAYPOC above, “Ashibha” in Kharosthi in exergue, zebu advancing right / “Pakhalavati [Devata]” in Kharosthi up right, “Drupasaya” in Kharosthi down left, Tyche of Pushkalavati, wearing mural crown, standing facing slightly left, holding flower in raised right hand. Senior, vol. II, p. 233 = Sachs 126 = R.C. Senior and Riaz Babar, “A New King and a New Deity,” ONS Newsletter 157 (Aurumn 1998), p. 13, C (this coin); B.N. Mukherjee, “The location of a mint of the Azes dynasty,” NC 1965, pp. 109-12 and pl. IX, 1 = MIG Type 162a = BMBI 1, pl. XXIX, 15 (same dies). Good VF, traces of deposits in devices, a few light marks. Extremely rare, the second known specimen, and the only one in private ownership.

Like the anonymous gold unit (see Triton XV, lot 1345), this coin reveals the broad diversity of this region’s monetary systems and, in particular, the existence of non-royal gold coinage during the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD. The reverse type and legend establish beyond doubt that this piece is a civic issue and it is attributed to the time of Azes because of its similarity of to his bronze issues. A metallurgical analysis of this coin has shown that the gold is similar in composition to contemporary Kushan staters.