LOCAL ISSUES, Samarqand. Anonymous. Mid 3rd-2nd century BC. Reduced Drachm (Silver, 14 mm, 2.63 g, 6 h), imitating Antiochos I (281-261 BC). King’s head to right within a dotted circle. Rev. Head and neck of a horse to right; to left, ‘ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ’ (‘of the king’ in Greek); to right, an unknown symbol. Cf. Zeno 20326. A very rare early imitation. Beautifully toned and of fine style. The obverse struck slightly off center and with a scrape on the reverse, otherwise, very fine.


This type imitates the drachms of Antiochos I from Ai Khanoum (SC 431f). As viceroy of the Upper Satrapies, Antiochos I was responsible for the Seleukid East under his father. He was the driving force behind the second Hellenistic urbanization of Baktria, after a significant portion of the first generation of settlers, established under Alexander, revolted shortly after the king's death and were destroyed by Perdikkas. Although Seleukid control over Baktria could not be secured in the long term, Antiochos' efforts laid the foundation for Hellenistic Baktria, and his coins continued to circulate for a long time in and around the Baktrian heartland and in Sogdiana. Thus, it is not surprising that his horse-head drachms were imitated by local tribes.