CNG 106, Lot: 580. Estimate $2000. Sold for $3750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

INDIA, Kushan Empire. Kanishka I. Circa AD 127/8-152. Æ Tetradachm (27mm, 16.98 g, 12h). Main mint in Kapisha (Begram?). Late phase. [Þ]AO KA ИHÞK[I], Kanishka, diademed and crowned, standing facing, head left, holding goad and scepter, sacrificing over altar to left; [flame at shoulder] / MHT[PA]ΓO BOΛΔ O (in Kushan, some letters retrograde or inverted), seated Maitreya Buddha: Buddha seated cross-legged facing on stool, hand raised in gesture of abhayamudrā and holding kamanḍalu/kuṇḍikā (water pot); tamgha to inner left. Cribb, Buddha 83-90 (dies r/22); MK 793.1 (same dies); cf. ANS Kushan 617; Donum Burns 179 (same dies). Good VF, brown patina. Exceptional reverse for issue.

From the Dr. Wilfried Pieper Collection.