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| The Coin Cabinet > Kallista Auction 5 | Auction date: 4 September 2026 |
| Lot number: 14 Price realized: 60,000 GBP (Approx. 81,103 USD / 69,805 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Baktria, Pre-Seleukid Era, Sophytes AV Stater ANCIENT GREECE. BAKTRIA, PRE-SELEUKID ERA. Sophytes. Gold Stater, circa 315-305 BC. Obv: head of Sophytes right, wearing crested Attic helmet, decorated with laurel wreath, intricate decorations on crest and wing on cheek guard; 'MNA' (artist's signature, most likely die engraver's) on bust truncation. Rev: kerykeion with Herakles knot decoration and serpent head terminals; ΣΩΦYTOY below. Mint State; a stunning piece destined for only the most connoisseurial collection, of tremendous numismatic and historical importance - a highly significant node of evidence around which much academic debate has accumulated - and regardless a coin of extraordinary aesthetic qualities, visually arresting and minimalist in its disposition, signed most likely by the engraver of its artistic dies. Seemingly Unique. Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd, Auction 2 (2/10/2011), lot 366. Scholarly note: The authenticity of this gold stater has been the subject of academic debate. In 2013, François de Callataÿ argued that the coin was a modern forgery on stylistic and iconographic grounds, principally citing the orientation of the reverse legend in relation to the kerykeion and his interpretation of the reverse type. Conversely, Professor Osmund Bopearachchi has consistently maintained the coin's authenticity, an interpretation that continues to be adopted in subsequent studies of Sophytes and his coinage. Recognising the significance of this debate, and with Professor Bopearachchi's permission, we reproduce below extracts from the current draft of his forthcoming study discussing the present coin, its place within the wider Sophytes series, and its historical significance. Previous publications of this coin are listed below: "Sophytos, known by a large number of coins bearing his name in the genitive: 'ΣΩΦYTOY', is one of the most enigmatic rulers in the history of Central Asia. His coins have been minted in silver, bronze and now lead and gold, and in several denominations belonging to two weight standards. The geographical situation of his kingdom, the definition of his chronology and the origin of his name has caused much ink to flow since the publication of his first known coin by Alexander Cunningham in 1866. These coins, because of their excellent workmanship and the unusual name, have aroused much curiosity among the numismatists and historians of Central Asia and India. Osmund Bopearachchi first drew attention to two interesting coins until then unpublished, each representing an unreported denomination for the series. The first is a tetradrachm of Attic standard in the collection of Professor Ikuo Hirayama (Kamakura, Japan). The second is a didrachm of local standard in the Alpha Credit Bank Numismatic Collection (Athens, Greece). A hoard found at Aqtcha, not far from Bactra, forced him to consider Sophytos not as a mere sovereign, but as a true dynast. It would have consisted of 48 coins. Of particular interest were a previously unseen silver tetradrachm of unprecedented type and a gold coin which is discussed in detail here [the present piece]. A few years later, another hoard, probably made up of 600 coins, was discovered in northern Afghanistan and was made up mostly of coins of the same sovereign[...] All the coins issued by Sophytos, with only two exceptions, were all found to the north of the Hindu Kush, and more precisely in the valley of the Oxus River. One coin of this series recently found in Samarkand, the hoard found in Aqtcha confirm this, and the one from northern Afghanistan. These coins were struck following two weight standards, the Attic and a light local standard. The coins of these series are in head-to-tail alignment. Furthermore, some of them are linked by the presence of the caduceus or by the monograms composed of the Greek letters MNA. The discovery of a stater in gold struck in the name of Sophytos in the hoard of Aqtcha [the present piece] forces us to look into the origins of this enigmatic ruler. On the obverse of this gold stater of Attic standard (8.58 g) appears the helmeted head of the ruler called Sophytos in the legend, and on the reverse the caduceus with the Greek legend in the exergue ΣΩΦΥΤΟΥ. The caduceus depicted on the reverse is an attribute of Hermes that symbolises peace and commerce, composed of the magic laurel or olive rod that he received from Apollo, around which two serpents are entwined. The serpents are the symbol of prudence and cunning. The choice of the caduceus invokes Hermes, the divinity that is one of the most important gods of Olympus. He is both the guide of travellers, and the patron of merchants and thieves. The depiction of the caduceus alone instead of its usual rooster may seem strange. Let us not forget that this same symbol appears alone on a series of bronze coins of the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrios I. It is true that the cockerel is the symbol of Mercury (Hermes to the Greeks) in Graeco-Roman sculpture, though rarely found in the company of the Greek Hermes. The facial features of the figure depicted on the gold coin resemble those on his regular silver coins. We know that in Antiquity, the minting of coins was considered an act of sovereignty and a symbol of freedom. It is difficult to justify this claim for a sovereign so powerful that he issued a considerable number of coins with numerous denominations according to two distinct weight standards. Worse still, with a tetradrachm from the same hoard, this Sophytos committed sacrilege by associating his portrait with that of Athena. Some numismatists have compared Sophytos' helmet with its cheek-protection to the one worn by Seleucos I on his coins from the mint of Susa (307-303 BCE) celebrating the conquest of the upper satrapies of the East. For the numismatists who supported this hypothesis, it was unthinkable that Sophytos might have been the instigator of such an innovation. They thus accepted that his "reign" must be placed after the date of the issues of Seleukos I, i.e. after 305 B.C.E. Bopearachchi, who had aligned himself with his predecessors, changed his point of view when he published the gold coin [the present piece]. Here are the arguments put forward by Bopearachchi: 1. If Sophytos was a satrap of Seleucos, he would never have taken the initiative to strike gold coins, nor to slip his face under the helmet of Athena. A satrap under Seleucid domination would never have dared commit such a sacrilege. His coinage is not, then, that of a beleaguered satrap, but of an independent and powerful ruler. The gold coin of Sophytos shows that his helmet with the cheek guard, decorated with a wing and girded with a crown of laurel, little resembles that of Seleucos I. Sophytos went beyond the Seleucid frontiers in his search for a model necessary for his coinage. The coins with Athena wearing an Attic helmet on the obverse and an owl on the reverse, originally from Athens, were, then, the model for the coins of Sophytos. The rare series of diobols of lighter weight standard in the name of Sophytos representing Athena wearing a Corinthian helmet was inspired by coins issued around 480 BCE in Corinth. The helmet that Sophytos wears on the gold coin [the present piece], with the exception of the cheek-guard, is surprisingly similar to the coins of Thourioi in southern Italy issued around 443 BCE. The engraver of the issues of Sophytos was thus inspired by the coinage of Attica and of Magna Graecia. 2. The cockerel depicted on regular silver issues of Sopyhtos is closer to the most beautiful Sicilian issues of Himera that are dated to around 480-470 BCE. Once the links with Seleucos I have been severed, Sophytos can be placed in an earlier chronological position. May he not have been one of the rebels who took advantage of the political upheaval following the death of Alexander the Great? Alexander, impressed by the personality of Poros, returned his kingdom to him before marching to the south. It seems that before his death, Alexander had recreated the satrapy of Gandhara and entrusted it to Peithon. During the years that followed the death of the Conqueror, in spite of an attempted massive exodus of the Greek colonists, which was repressed in a terrible blood bath, it appears that the Macedonian leaders had managed to keep these territories under their control, with the exception of the valley of the Indus, lost early on. The regent Perdikkas confirmed in his functions the satrap Philip in Bactria-Sogdiana and Sibyrtios in Arachosia-Gedrosia. In 321 B.C.E. Philip became satrap of Parthia and Stasanor from Aria to Bactria. In 316 until around 305, at the time of the campaign of Seleukos I to reconquer the lost eastern satrapies, classical sources remain silent on the satrapies of Central Asia. It is thus not impossible that, during this period, Sophytos had seized power in Bactria and struck gold and silver coins bearing his portrait. Sixty years later, Diodotos, Seleucid satrap of Bactria, followed the example of Sophytos and formed an independent state. He also struck gold coins. For our part, we prefer to consider Sophytos a dynast of Bactria, and to place his reign around 315 B.C.E. It is possible that the military campaign of Seleukos to reconquer the lost Eastern satrapies (206-305 B.C.E.) was, among other reasons, aimed at ending the reign of the rebel dynast." Reference: Bopearachchi & Flandrin, 'Le Portrait d'Alexandre le Grand'-200-201ff. (this coin); Bopearachchi, Notae 4: Sur les pas d'Alexandre-16 (this coin); Bopearachchi, "Royaumes grecs en Afghanistan. Nouvelles données", in L'art d'Afghanistan de la préhistoire à nos jours, CERDAF, Actes d'une Journée d'étude, UNESCO (11/3/2005), Paris-p.60-1 (this coin). Weight: 8.58g. Diameter: 18mm. Die Axis: 6h. Estimate: 100000 GBP |  |
