Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 683. Estimate $10000.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $11000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ANCIENT. INDIA, Kushans. Huvishka I. Circa 152-192 AD. AV Dinar (7.93 gm, 12h). FAONANOFAO O-OHFKI KOFANO, crowned and diademed bust left on clouds, holding mace sceptre in his right hand, sword hilt in left / MAACHNO, Maaseno, nimbate and diademed, standing facing, holding in his right hand a long sceptre with bird crest and bands, and resting his left hand on the hilt of his sword; tamgha to left. MK 298 (same dies as specimen 7); Bopearachchi, et al., eds., De l'Indus à l'Oxus Archéologie de l'Asie Centrale, pg. 185, 170 (this coin); Donum Burns 271; MACW -. EF. Extremely rare, only seven examples cited by Göbl. ($10,000)

The god Maaseno (Skanda Karttikaya), is a war-god son of Siva. Typically, the gods on the reverses of Kushan coins are displayed in a three-quarters perspective. As with the Buddha coinage, however, the god here is displayed in a frontal perspective and may depict a representation of a famous sculpture of the god known in antiquity. The tamgha on this coin, like that on lot 679, is that of Huvishka’s predecessor, Kanishka, suggesting that it is an early issue of Huvishka.