301, Lot: 144. Estimate $150. Sold for $360. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

INDO-PARTHIANS, Margiana or Sogdiana. Late 1st century BC-early 1st century AD. AR Drachm (19mm, 1.97 g, 12h). Imitating Phraates IV. Diademed bust left; “countermark”: helmeted bust right / Archer (Arsakes I) seated right, holding bow. Senior 199.2D; Sellwood 91.13; Shore 473; MIG 612 (King ‘A’); MACW 767 (King ‘A’). Good VF, porosity and minor encrustation. Scarce and interesting type.

This peculiar type is remarkable in that it imitates Phraates IV drachms that were countermarked with a local “Eukratides I” type helmeted bust (see Senior 199.1D), but the issuing authority decided to include the “countermark” in the obverse die. Thus the coins were struck already featuring the locally accepted “countermark”.