Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 652. Closing Date: Jan 
10, 2005. Sold For $9000 

KINGS of BAKTRIA. Eukratides I. Circa 171-145 BC. 
AR Tetradrachm (16.92 gm, 12h). BASILEUS MEGAS 
EUKRATIDHS, heroic bust left, wearing helmet 
adorned with bull's horn and ear, seen from 
behind, brandishing spear in his right hand / 
HLIOKLEOUS KAI LAODIKHS, jugate draped busts of 
Heliokles and Laodike, diademed, right; monogram 
behind. Bopearachchi Série 16A; SNG ANS 526; MIG 
Type 184a; MACW -. Superb EF, toned, slight 
obverse die shift. Very rare. ($15,000)

Ex Triton IV (5 December 2000), lot 346.

Eukratides was a usurper who successfully 
challenged Antimachos II and Demetrios II for the 
throne. While from a noble family, he was not the 
son of a previous Baktrian king, as evidenced by 
the fact that his mother, Laodike, wears the royal 
diadem but his father, Heliokles, does not. To 
strengthen his position, and declare his 
intentions of founding a dynasty, he struck his 
"pedigree" coinage, naming his parents.

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