Nezak Huns - A New Napki Malka

Already have one, but he told me he was lonely

Nezak Huns (Kabul, Afghanistan or thereabouts)
"Napki Malka" type (c. 6th century AD)
BI Drachm

Napki-style bust right, wearing winged crown topped with bull's head, Pahlavi legend NPKY MLK
Fire altar and attendants; each attendant holds tall spear. "Sun wheel" above attendants' heads.





The extreme abundance and also huge variety of styles pretty much preclude any chance of "Napki Malka" being a given name
The top theory (from my reading) is that "NPKY" simply stands for Nezak, and MLK is a pretty standard word for "King" in languages that stem from Aramaic.

At any rate, I was excited to find an example in this portrait style, especially in a no-reserve auction format. It has some technical issues (flat-struck ring around the portrait and the reverse is a hot mess) so I was able to get it cheap. These are not easily found with well-struck reverses, but they usually have superb portrait artwork and strike quality for coins of their time. They range from "good" silver to almost pure copper; this one is very low grade billon, but has enough silver to ward off any serious patination.

Interesting side note is that these coins display some of the most artistically skilled portraiture in the world at the time of their manufacture.