While the tetradrachmai of Demetrios are relatively common, his drachmai are infrequently encountered. The designs on both faces portray a sense of royal and martial strength. The obverse, which displays one of the most interesting royal portraits in all of ancient Greek numismatics, depicts the king wearing a rather unproportionally sized elephant headdress. A slightly different style than the elephant headdress worn by Alexander the Great on the coinage of Ptolemy I, Demetrios was referring to his long military campaigns in India. His, however, were much more extensive, with the Greek historian Strabo claiming that "more tribes were subdued by [Demetrius] than Alexander ''.

The reverse depicts a muscular Hercules who is holding a club and the Nemean lion skin. This second parallel with Alexander the Great is not an accident. As the fourth ruler of the independent Greek Bactrian kingdom, Demetrios strove to depict strength and royal power on his coinage by tapping into western Greek numismatic imagery.