And so we have made it to the third part of the Vikramm Chand Silk Road Collection
sale. Yet Silk Road doesn’t quite capture the range of what is being offered here, which
is almost entirely the fascinating and artistic gold coins minted by the rulers of the
Kushan and Gupta Empires in what is today Northwest India and Eastern Iran between
c. 100 AD and the 5th century.
The sale starts with an exceptional new discovery of the earliest Buddhist gold coin of
ancient India, a diminutive coin stamped with an image of the Bodhi tree under which
the Buddha sat and attained spiritual enlightenment. It is a coin of the highest order of
cultural and historical importance, and it is thought that no more than five examples
have survived.
Then follows a wide-ranging selection of the types and varieties of the scarce and
sought-after coins of Kushan and Gupta.
Kushan – more than 60 coins make up this part, ranging from the coins of the mighty
ruler King Kanishka to a specialized section of 20 coins of Emperor Shaka, which
may in fact be a late tribal issue. This range shows the Kushans to be an eclectic
blend of ethnicities worshipping a colourful pantheon of deities. Nothing captures
this better than the exceedingly rare coin of King Huvishka with a reverse featuring
the god Serapis a Graeco-Egyptian god that merged worship of Osiris and the sacred
bull Apis (lot 1025).
Gupta – the ever-popular Gupta coins are represented by 100 specimens in this sale,
and these include well-known and desirable types such as the lion slayer, horseman,
the Asvamedha (or horse sacrifice) type, the lyre player, and many other besides. Once
again, it is a great pleasure to offer an enticing selection of these remarkably creative
and dynamic ancient designs impressed into solid gold.
General Coin and Banknote sale
The general sale features a selection of Greek and Roman ancients, and we draw
special attention to the Egyptian coins and medals, as well as an impressive range of
Egyptian banknotes that hail from a Swiss private collection. This includes an example
of the first Egyptian banknote, the 1 pound of June 1898 (lot 2119), an iconic banknote
and one of the most famous and desirable banknotes of the nineteenth century.
Once again, we direct our clients to the online auction on the Feldman International
Auctions website, where high-resolution images can be studied. We also invite you to
contact us if you have a need for additional images and videos of the lots.
Allan F. Westphall,
Geneva, September 2025
INTRODUCTION