(sold for $42609.0)
INDIAN COINS, ANCIENT INDIA Kushan Empire, Kanishka I (c.127-152 AD), Gold Dinar, caped and crowned Kanishka standing facing, head left, holding ankus over a small altar left, and sceptre right, BACI Λ EYC BACI- Λ EWN KANHÞKOY, rev Selene standing with lunar symbol behind head, raising right hand and holding filleted sceptre in left hand, tamgha in field, CA Λ HNH, 7.97g (Göbl MK 26/1, these dies = Rosenfield 30). Extremely fine and of the highest rarity, believed to be the only example in private hands. The Selene type is without question the rarest of only four Greek deity types in the gold coinage of Kanishka. It represents Hellenistic influence and is testament to the variety of religious beliefs tolerated across the Kushan empire during Kanishka’s reign - it is believed that Kanishka himself practised both Buddhism and the Zoroastrian cult of Mithra. For the present coin the die engraver uses the same image as that presented on Mao types because the aim was to translate the respective Kushan deity into Greek rather than to depict a Hellenistic deity per se. That is why the figure is male and without the usual attributes such as radiant long hair, or a torch, a chariot, or seated on horseback. In the Greek pantheon Selene is associated with other moon goddesses but is the only one considered a personification of the moon itself making the present coin an extremely desirable companion piece to the Helios type, her brother the sun. The rarity of this coin should not be underestimated. The cataloguer knows of two examples in the British Museum. Göbl recorded only one in private hands £25,000-35,000.
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