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| Heritage World Coin Auctions > ANA Signature Sale 3135 | Auction date: 1 September 2026 |
| Lot number: 34085 Price realized: 2,100 USD (Approx. 1,811 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Ancients BACTRIAN KINGDOM. Agathocles (ca. 185-180/170 BC). AR tetradrachm (30mm, 16.56 gm, 12h). NGC Choice AU 4/5 - 3/5, die shift. Diademed, draped bust of Agathocles right; dotted border / BAΣIΛEΩΣ / ΑΓΑΘΟΚΛΕOYΣ, Zeus standing facing, scepter in left hand, figure of Hecate standing facing in right hand, holding torches in either hand; complex monogram in inner left field. Bopearachchi 1D. HGC 12, 81. Like many Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek rulers, Agathocles is a near complete mystery to us in terms of his origins, rise to power and the extent of his realm. On his rare "pedigree" coinage, exemplified in the next lot, he claims the previous Bactrian Kings Diodotus, Euthydemus and Demetrius as his ancestors; however these were from rival houses, and Agathocles also claims kinship to Alexander the Great and an "Antiochus Nicator," possibly Antiochus II or III, to whom he almost certainly bore no blood relation. The evidence supports the conclusion that he was a usurper who seized control, or was appointed to rule, a portion of the vast, unwieldy kingdom along with his contemporaries Antimachus Theos, Panteleon and Apollodotus I, whose coins seem to have been struck in the same 20 year span in the early second century BC. Of his character we can deduce little aside from the personality hinted at by his extraordinary coin portraits, which depict a lean man with a head of tight, curly hair, a sharply pointed nose, compressed lips, and a bit of a mad gleam in his eye. Whatever his origins and personal qualities, his reign was cut short by the rise of Eucratides I, who seems to have suppressed his rivals and assumed full control of all Bactria in about 170 BC; Greek-ruled northern India remained independent, however, under the successors of Apollodotus I. www.HA.com/TexasAuctioneerLicenseNotice https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/greek/greek-bactrian-kingdom-agathocles-ca-185-180-170-bc-ar-tetradrachm-30mm-1656-gm-12h-ngc-choice-au-4-5-3-/a/3135-34085.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-3135-09012026 HID02906262019 © 2026 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved Certification number: NGC 8748193013 |  |
