136, Lot: 128. Estimate $100. Sold for $105. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

HEPHTHALITES. Baktria or Sogdiana Region. Circa 680-720 AD. AR Drachm (27mm, 2.83 g). Imitating Sasanian king Peroz. Crowned bust right resembling Peroz; Baktrian legend and two tribal symbols in margins / Fire altar flanked by attendants, crescent and star above; two countermarks: head facing left and combined camel/elephant head. Göbl, Hunnen 289, with c/ms 12, 72. VF, weak strike.

Both Göbl and Walker in their lists of Hephthalite countermarks list c/m 12 as a reclining Baktrian camel. On this piece, it is very clear that the symbol is composed of two animals, with the hump of the camel forming the head of an elephant.