Sale: Triton VI, Lot: 544. Estimate $10000.  Closing Date: Monday, 13 January 2003.  Sold For $17000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KUSHAN KINGS of INDIA. Huvishka. Circa 126-164 AD. AV Dinar (7.95 gm). "King of Kings, Huvishka, the Kushan", Huvishka riding an elephant right, holding a trident and elephant goad / "Ohsho", nimbate Siva standing left, holding elephant goad, thunderbolt, trident and goat, tamgha in left field. Göbl, Kushan 305A/1=BMC Greek and Scythic Kings pg.137, 18 (same obverse die); the reverse die is as Göbl 308. Good VF. Apparently unique, unpublished, and an extraordinary rarity in the Kushan series. (See color enlargement on plate 2.) ($10,000)

The elephant imagery on these coins is unique for the gold coinage of the Kushans, although frequent on Huvishka's copper. The Greeks used the elephant as a symbol of might, as on the coins of the Seleukids (although elephants were notoriously unreliable in battle, being easily stampeded). The Indian point of view was more complex; the elephant was used in warfare, as Alexander discovered, but the pachyderm was also a symbol of natural wisdom and strength, peaceful and moderate, a potent symbol for Buddhist monarchs. The white elephant remains a symbol of royalty to the present day in Buddhist countries. The elephant could thus be either a warlike or a peaceful motif, and the question is, what was the intent here? The Kushan empire developed out of the Yueh-Chi domains in Sogdiana (Central Asia), where the Kushans settled in the 2nd century BC. By the 1st century AD, they were firmly established in northern India, and under Kanishka their domain extended from Kashmir to Bengal. Kanishka was the expansionist, subduing the Indian kingdoms and waging war against the Parthians and the Chinese. If the elephant was a militant symbol, it would be more likely to appear under Kanishka. His son Huvishka, by contrast, was notable more for his long uneventful reign (think of Antoninus Pius following the turbulent reigns of Trajan and Hadrian). Huvishka was a pious Buddhist, famous not in war but for his pilgrimages around his kingdom, founding numerous monasteries. These rare dinars thus present Huvishka as a benevolent devout ruler; perhaps they are to be associated with a generous donation toward the founding of a Buddhist monastery?