Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. I am still alive, and with a new Parthian to show off. Artabanus III is probably not the most interesting of Parthian rulers. He got to the throne through a civil war with his brother, got deposed, got reinstated, got deposed, and was set to make a third stab at the throne when he choked and dropped dead a day or two before he was set to return to power, leaving his son the beneficiary of his father's untimely demise. So yeah, a coin of his was not high on my list, but then i saw this one: Artabanus III AR Drachm (Circa 10-38CE) Diadem bust left, with square-cut beard Arsakes I as archer seated right Size 22.43 mm, weight 3.91 grams Sellwood 63.6 It was the raggedy looking flan that sold me on this coin. I like it that it is off centered in an oval-shapped flan with irregular edges and tilted 10 degrees, yet the design is all there. I guess I was in the mood for a rough looking coin. Anyway, here are my other Parthians: Mithradites III Osroes II Vologases III
Probably degenerated Greek text. Parthians started with nice legible Greek legends and then eventually over time the legends turned to gibberish in a pretend Greek-like script...which is why identifying rulers in later coins when they all look almost alike is a task best left to the experts.
I am completely uncomfortable separating the coins of Artabanos II and III. I do not have one that I have IDed as AIII but that means nothing. This period is really bad with the general Parthian characteristic of drachms centered low on the obverse. I assume all this has been reworked since Sellwood and Shore books were published. Who is currently considered to be the best source for Parthian ID's?
that's a quite a parthian run you've got going sallent! here's my first parthian coin, a gift from a forum member.
There are also nice bronze Parthians. One doesn't encounter these so often, and usually they are worn. The first here is Phraates III (70-57 BC), little stags tumbling around on his tiara and a jumping horse on the reverse. The second is Osroes II (about 190 AD) with a galloping ram at his reverse. A lot of energy!
I agree that the OP coin is Sellwood 63.6, from the Parthian king who reigned c. 10- 38 AD. But is it Artabanos II or III? Depends. Sellwood and Shore both attributed Type 63 to Artabanos II. However, Assar's work (still not available in book form, as far as I know) identifies a previously unknown, short-lived early king named Artabanos, resulting in a renumbering of the Artabani and making the "Artabanos III" who issued Type 74 (c. 80-90 AD)actually Art.IV, and the final Parthian king is thus Artabanos V. Personally, I prefer to concentrate on getting the Sellwood numbering correct, then assign a name based on Shore. Really, in Parthian coins it's usually pointless to worry too much about the actual name of the king who issued the coin, since that "fact" is probably going to change anyway. I just did a quick search and didn't find a full listing of Assar's attributions, I think I have a hard copy somewhere around here and can post it, if people are interested. (Note: I am NOT talking about posting Dr. Assar's actual articles, which are his copyrighted materials; I am only considering posting a list of what Sellwood number attributions he has proposed changing.) It is actually not terribly difficult to attribute coins to either 63.6 (old Art. II) or 74.6 (old Art.III). The key difference is in the reverse legend- not what it says, for by this time it is badly degraded, and doesn't change for different rulers anyway- but in the details of the letterforms. Look at the top two lines of the legend, above the archer. Originally they said "Basilews basilewn" *(King of kings) in perfectly good Greek. On 63.6 this is still somewhat readable, with the first sigma looking like C and the E being a squished but readable E. On 74.6, the sigma is reduced to a single line l and the E is a vertical line with a single short horizontal line sticking out the middle. Keeping those facts in mind, I would say that both of Doug Smith's coins are 63.6. Oh, just for the record: The seven-line reverse legend in full, starting at the top and proceeding in from the outer edge, then clockwise, etc.: "Basilews basilewn/ Arsakou/ Euergetou dikaiou/ epiphanous philellenos". *I'm using "w" to represent omega, because otherwise "o" could imply either omega or omicron.
Parthicus, I am definitely interested in the list of Assar attributions. Unfortunately Parthia.com hasn't been updated for years, and so its attribution correlation chart (http://parthia.com/parthia_corr.htm) lacks Assar's work. I have actually been working on this very project, that is, creating a column of Assar's attributions, using the model of the chart on Parthia.com. However, not owning the Sunrise Collection book, which essentially lists all his attributions in one binding, it is difficult for me to feel certain that my project is entirely accurate or whether it's even complete. Your list will really help the effort. And I don't have the time to read each and every article he's written over the past twenty years - although I have read a number of them. For anyone who may have a lot more free time than I, his new attributions are buried in the articles here: http://parthian-empire.com/articleListPage.php Probably easier to just pick up the Sunrise book, but it's pricey.
Thanks. Last year I went crazy on Roman, Greek, and Indian coins. This year (my second year as a collector) I plan to focus heavily on medievals and Eastern Empires (Parthians, Persis, Sassanian, etc). That's the reason why you've seen me acquire 3 Parthians over the last 6 weeks, as well as a few medievals. I plan to eventually return to Roman and Greek, but I'm kind of burned out with them for now. I want to take a break there and hit them hard again whenever I get tired of my current focus. Eventually one day I hope to have a Greek silver, Roman silver, Eastern Empires silver, Indian silver, and Medieval silver collection that can hold its own weight against any collection out there. Of course, by then I'll probably be an old man and hopefully my son can take off from there and keep adding. One can dream, right?
Lawyer => congrats on another cool Parthian conquest Sadly, I have yet to pull the trigger on one of these types ... I always love the cartoony obverses, but I haven't quite found a sweet enough example "yet"
There is a word for this sort of collecting: Normal. It is easy to get carried away and buy every coin we see in some area (e.g. Parthian) and then get burned out not to buy another for some time. Some of us are general collectors in the sense that we have coins from many genres but many, certainly I, acquired these in spurts. Picasso had his "Blue Period". I had my Probus Years and Severan Years and Minor Silver Years etc. etc. etc.... I'm not even sure what phase I'm in now but nine in 2016 were Eastern. In this, I wish you well. Note to all new and old: Around the first of the year YOU will be expected to post a summary of your year 2016 in coins. In my case, I am agonizing over selecting ten favorite new acquisitions for a "Best of 2016" thread. Of course I could still get December winners that may alter that list but now is the time to start thinking.
i was kind of piecing together my 2016 best of list last night! i have a small coin show at the end of this month...and that will be it for coins until 2017. i've got 9 slots filled and have left a wildcard spot open in case i pick up a winner at the show.
For me its not going to be too difficult filling out 5 or 10 best coins of this year, but of the two I have in mind, its going to be really tough to decide which of them gets the top spot.
Very interesting coins, I always wanted to start a Parthian collection, sadly I have my hands full right now/ pockets empty I was a bit too successfull this month in auctions (won 6 coins), and with the exchange rates of our crappy dollar/ it now costs almost $1.50 to obtain a EURO/US$.....life is not fair! Sallent/ your additions are fantastic.
From Artabanus II have this difficult billon coin. It's a rather ruinous drachm with very little silver in it, Sellwood 63.9. To help you look I'm copying an entry of the Baldwin catalog #90 where Sellwood's own collection was auctioned, with some comparable billon drachms. The obverse is clear enough: head to left, the familiar loop at the backside of the diadem. Pearl rim at the upper edge. On the reverse, you can see the bow (form of a saucer) of the sitting king Arsaces and at the far left of the coin, vaguely, the outstretched arm of that mythical forefather. The double rows of dots are all what's left of the text.
