369, Lot: 654. Estimate $400. Sold for $400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CENTRAL ASIAN. Local Issues. Five (5) AR Drachms of Tokharistan. All coins: Sandan. Circa 688-707/8, or later. Uncertain mint in Bactria. Coins Near VF to VF, toned, all coins with tamgha countermark, holed and plugged with pale gold. LOT SOLD AS IS, NO RETURNS. Five (5) coins in lot.

This type is remarkable for being trilingual – carrying legends in Greco-Baktrian, Pahlavi, and Brahmi – and speaks to the growing influence of the issuing body. Even more unusual, however, is the modification that so many of these coins later received. In addition to being countermarked, and presumably at the same time as the application of the countermark, the majority of these coins were holed and filled with either a debased gold, or less often, a copper plug.