Sale: CNG 66, Lot: 941. Estimate $1500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 19 May 2004.  Sold For $1800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

GREEK KINGS of BAKTRIA. Diodotos II, in the name of Antiochos II of Syria. Circa 235-230/225 BC. AV Stater (8.29 gm). Attic standard. Mint A (near Aï Khanoum). Diademed head of Diodotos I right / Zeus advancing left, holding thunderbolt and aegis, eagle at his feet; wreath in left field. Holt Series C, Group 3; Bopearachchi Série 1A; SNG ANS 75; MIG 66a; SC 630. Good VF, test cut on head. ($1500)

Holt has attributed these staters to Diodotos I or II on the basis of portrait. He differentiates between the two as an older and younger portrait, but a general lack of plate coins makes a comparison difficult. B. Kritt, in his book Dynastic Transitions in the Coinage of Bactria (CNG, 2001), has clarified the details and provided a number of photos for comparison. See Kritt pl. 2 for examples of Diodotos I portraits, and pls. 3 and 6 for examples of Diodotos II, all of mint A. Generally, the Diodotos II portait has no underchin, and his hair is more form-fitting to his head (few, if any, strands end off the portrait).