As the Bactrian King Menander was ruling in Indian region and most of his coins were minted in various ancient Indian mints, I have collected some of his coins. On all of his coins, the obverse has various portraits of King Menander and reverse has standing figure of Athena holding shield and thunderbolt. His name appears in Greek on obverse while on reverse it's written in Khrosti (ancient Indian alphabets). The reverse letters reads "Maharajasa Tratarsa Menandarasa" i.e. The Great king Menander. For this reason, sometime his coins are referred as "Bilingual" coins in the region. Here are few coins issued by King Menander, a great follower of Buddhism A Tetradrachm, Diademed bust of Menander facing right, Taxila mint Drachm, Diademed bust facing left and thrusting a javelin, Pushkalavati Mint Drachm, Diademed bust facing right, Pushkalavati Mint, E workshop Drachm, Helmeted bust of Athena facing right, Rev: Owl standing right, Pushkalavati Mint Drachm, Diademed bust facing right, Chach Mint Regards, Ballabh Garg
And few more... Drachm, Diademed bust facing left holding javelin, Taxila Mint Drachm, Helmeted bust facing right, Panjhir Mint AE Square, Helmeted bust facing right, Taxila Mint Regards, Ballabh Garg
Wonderful coins, I've been meaning to acquire one. I haven't any specimens of Bactrian coinage, though I find it to be incredibly interesting.
I've also been meaning to get some Bactrian coins, but need to spend some time researching them first. The ones you show are great examples. I saw one for sale at the Long Beach show that blew me away, one of the most amazing portraits I've ever seen: http://www.vcoins.com/ancient/parscoins/store/viewItem.asp?idProduct=5572 The king featured on this coin, Demetrios I, was probably not Buddhist.
