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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TIF, post: 7645692, member: 56859&quot;]My eyes did a cartoon <i>sproing!</i> when scrolling through a recent NAC auction.&nbsp; It was in a section I usually just breeze through or even skip browsing altogether:&nbsp; Indo-Greeks.&nbsp; I scrambled to find more about it but there&#039;s not a lot out there and I didn&#039;t have time to become anything but cursorily familiar with the coin before deciding this was going to be my main target.&nbsp; I have a thing for unusual deities and creatures <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1314670[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Indo-Greek. Telephos, circa 80-70 BCE</b></p><p>Drachm, North Chach 89-70, AR 18 mm, 2.13 gm, 12h</p><p>Obv:&nbsp; BAΣIΛEΩΣ EYEPΓETOΥ THΛEΦOY (Basileos Evergetou Telephou ... <i>of King Telephos, the benefactor</i>);&nbsp; Anguipede monster, the limbs terminating in lotus blossoms</p><p>Rev: Radiate Helios (sun god) and lunate Selene (moon goddess) standing facing, Kharoshthi legend around: <i>maharajasa kalanakramasa / teliphasa</i>; in lower right field, monogram</p><p>Ref:&nbsp; SNG ANS –. Bopearachchi, Series 1A. MIG type 451</p><p>NAC notes:&nbsp; Very rare. Light iridescent tone, surface somewhat rough, otherwise very fine</p><p><i>Ex CNG sale 87, 2011, 747</i></p><p><i>This coin is shown on <a href="http://coinindia.com/galleries-telephos.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://coinindia.com/galleries-telephos.html" rel="nofollow">CoinIndia</a></i></p><p><br /></p><p>A deity with snake legs ending in lotus blossoms?&nbsp; Yes please!&nbsp; I felt a little bit guilty bidding on this (and winning) since it&#039;s out of my usual collecting area and rare.&nbsp; Probably dashed the dreams of some specialist out there.&nbsp; Hope it wasn&#039;t any of my CT friends-- looks like something [USER=26302]@medoraman[/USER] would buy.&nbsp; I expected it to hammer higher and probably would have dropped out after another increment or two so I feel lucky to have acquired it.</p><p><br /></p><p>So far I&#039;ve learned very little about the issuer or the obverse deity, who may appear only on drachms and tetradrachms of this obscure issuer.&nbsp; So far I know only what CoinIndia says about the issuer and type:</p><p><br /></p><p><i>Telephos (or Telephus) was an ephemeral king in the Gandhara region who perhaps succeeded Maues there. His coins are all very rare and are most unusual in design; none of them bear his portrait. He may have belonged to an Indo-Scythian clan.&nbsp; </i></p><p><i>An anguiped is a snake-legged deity and the coins of Telephos may be their only appearance on any coinage.</i></p><p><br /></p><p>A brief in-hand video:</p><p>[MEDIA=youtube]OARm_GCQVwo[/MEDIA]</p><p><br /></p><p>Do you have any coins that you know little about but just had to have?&nbsp; Let&#039;s see &#039;em, or anything else you feel relates <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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