CNG 100, Lot: 137. Estimate $10000. Sold for $32500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

INDIA, Kushan Empire. Huvishka. Circa AD 151-190. AV Dinar (23mm, 7.88 g, 12h). Main mint in Baktria (Balkh?). Late phase. ÞAO(retrograde h)A(retrograde h)OÞ [A] O OOhVI VO, nimbate, diademed, and crowned half-length bust of Huvishka facing on clouds, head left, holding mace-scepter in right hand, filleted scepter in left / MααCh(retrograde h)O, Maaseno, nimbate and crowned, standing facing on two-tiered ornate and filleted distyle daïs with corbeled central bay, holding long scepter in right hand, left hand on hilt; on either side, nimbate figure standing facing with head turned to central figure; left figure holding long scepter in right hand, left hand on hilt; right figure with right hand on hip, holding long scepter in left hand; tamgha to right. MK 227A (O1/R1) = Donum Burns 251; ANS Kushan –. VF, toned. Extremely rare.

From the collection of Dr. Lawrence A. Adams. Ex Triton XII (6 January 2009), lot 435 (where it realized $16,000); Triton X (9 January 2007), lot 481.

Maaseno was the Kushan incarnation of the Hindu god Karttikeya, or Skanda, whose epithet was Mahasena. A particularly important deity to Yaudheyas, with his cult center at the Yaudheya capital of Rohitaka, it is highly probable that he entered the Kushan pantheon as a result of Kushan expansion into the territory of the Yaudheyas.