Sale: Triton VI, Lot: 537. Estimate $10000.  Closing Date: Monday, 13 January 2003.  Sold For $26000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of BAKTRIA (Graeco-Baktrian). Menander. Circa 165/155-130 BC. AR Tetradrachm (13.03 gm). Alexandria Kapisa mint. Struck circa 145 BC. Attic standard. Heroic helmeted and diademed bust left, seen from rear, nude but for aegis on shoulder, brandishing a spear / BASILEWS SWTHROS MENANDROU, Athena Alkidemos advancing left, holding shield and thunderbolt; monogram lower right. Bopearachchi -; SNG ANS -; MIG -. Good VF, dark hoard patina, some roughness on the edge. Unique and Unpublished! (See color enlargement on plate 8.) ($10,000)

In his article "Graeco-Bactrian Issues of Later Indo-Greek Kings", NumChron 1990, pp.79-103, O. Bopearachchi notes the two known varieties of Attic weight tetradrachms of Menander (MIG 212a and 212b), both with plain diademed bust of king. He dates the issue to circa 145 BC, when Menander regained the Baktrian portion of his kingdom previously lost to Eukratides, after the death of that usurper. Bopearachchi posits that the Attic weight coinages of Menander and other Indo-Greek kings were special issues struck for a region that was still accustomed to the old weight coinage, as opposed to the more prevalent, and lighter, Indian standard. The present unique coin is likely a special issue marking the reuniting of Menander's kingdom.