Description SIX BACTRIAN GOLD DISKS
Ancient region of Bactria, Kushan period or earlier, 100 BC-100 AD. The gold disks cut out from gold foil with gold loops to the reverse. The disks were likely originally sewn to a dress of a Kushan lady. They likely come from Tomb VII or VIII at Tillya Tepe, as these tombs were not excavated due to civil war and later raided by the Afghan population and distributed among their families.
Provenance: Private collection of a German artist and collector living in Southeast Asia, assembled over decades through purchases in Mazar-i-Sharif and at the Afghan market in Peshawar.
Condition: Good condition with minor traces of age and wear, some minor bending and creasing.
Weight: 11.3 g (total)
Dimensions: Diameter 4 cm (each)
Literature comparison: Similar disks are published in Frederic Hiebert and Pierre Cambon, Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul, pages 260/261, National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C. 2008, as well as in Baktrisches Gold: Aus den Ausgrabungen der Nekropole von Tillya-Tepe in Nordafghanistan, page 66, Aurora Kunstverlag Leningrad 1985.