165, Lot: 106. Estimate $100. Sold for $165. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EARLY SCYTHIANS. Uncertain (The Dahae?). Circa 1st century BC. AR Drachm (16mm, 3.58 g). Very crude head right / Blank. Cf. Senior p. 215, A8 (Skythians in Sogdiana); cf. MIG 655 (Dahae). VF for type. Possibly the same die as the previous lot, but more worn.

The head appears to be derive from the helmeted bust time of the Baktrian king Eukratides, a type frequently copied on Sogdian tetradrachms. The two new types presented in this auction, along with others in CNG 75 extend the range of varieties of this crude coinage. Senior shows a clear progression in his horsehead hemidrachms type A9, descending into complete illegibility; these drachms parallel that series. They have been attributed to the Dahae (see Shore Parthian Coins & History p. 38), a nomadic tribe of the steppes forming a branch of the same peoples as the Parni, later the Parthian rulers of Persia.