Thin Sassanian

I acquired quickly this silver Persian coin which dates back to the Sassanian dynasty, I believe. They are usually difficult to find, and I know very little about them. The coin is very thin, and I could nearly detect some Arabic letters therein. Could you please lighten me up? Thank you.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Actually they're pretty common, especially for some rulers. And the majority are thin, they are not like roman or greek coins, which most are small and a bit thick, like Denarii/Drachms.

 

Who told you they were difficult to find? In general they are abundant. Whether or not your exact coin is uncommon, I don't know. I haven't taken time to learn much about these coins other than glancing at them on CoinTalk.

On CoinTalk alone you'll find many discussions and examples. Do a search for "Sasanian" or "Sassanian".

There are thousands in CNG's archives using the search words Sasanian and Sassanian.

Nice job with the images, 7C! Much much better than a scan. Now that you're getting comfortable with photography, perhaps the next step will be learning to resize and join the photos .

 

Always willing for the better. I'll keep up searching.

 

I am an amateur at these but see this as Kushru II mint NAH (uncertain site) year 24. Who else has an opinion?

 

I thought the mint may be WYHC (unidentified mint) and as for the year, there's a letter s between the second and fourth letters: Č h s r w s t y instead of Č h r w s t y for 24. Can't say that I'm very experienced, though.

 

I smiled when I read this ... Charles, it's enlighten me (but certainly close enough, considering it's not your first language)

Hey, I like your OP-coin (very cool)

I also have an example of this coin-type

Sassanian Kingdom, Peroz I AR Drachm
Date: 459-484 AD
Diameter: 28.1 mm
Weight: 4.1 grams
Obverse: Bust of Peroz
Reverse: Fire altar with attendants at sides



... my example isn't very thin though (maybe I got lucky?)

 

My chunkiest Sassanian.

Sassanian Persia
Alexandria, Egypt
AE 12 Nummi (AD 621-628)
24 mm x 14.22 grams
Obverse: Bust of Khusro II facing forward wearing a Crown with Star to left Crescent to right Cross center.
Reverse: I/B either side of cross on orb, Greek legend ALEZ in ex.
Ref: SB #856, DOC #192 (one recorded)
Note: Very Rare. Ex Tom Wood

 

Curious Noob, is that an example of Khusro II, Sassanian occupation of Egypt?




... wow, your example is far heavier than mine ...

 

@7Calbrey : Definitely Khusro II (590- 628 AD), his drachms are the most common Sasanian coins. Khusro is also spelled Khusrau, Khosrau, Chosroes, or Xusro depending on how you like to Romanize your Persian. I think the mint is NAH (unknown site), but am still early in my learning curve for Sasanian coins. This brings up two important points:

1. Sasanian coins are inscribed in Pahlavi script, which is a special alphabetic system that was used for the Persian language. (Modern Persian uses a system derived from Arabic, with a couple of special features added.) Despite the similar appearance to Arabic, the letter forms in Pahlavi are mostly different for the same sound in Arabic. Also, Pahlavi script was clearly designed by a sadist, because there are many letters that are almost identical in shape, and when you are trying to read a tiny coin inscription that has had centuries of wear, you can quickly get very frustrated.

2. Every area of numismatics seems to have its area of uncertainty. For Parthian coins, the attribution of coin types to specific rulers is constantly being re-evaluated. Sasanian attributions to ruler are pretty secure (they had the foresight to put their names on their coins), but attributing specific mint marks to specific mint cities is tough, even if you can agree on the letters in the mintmark. For example, the mintmark ShI or ShY is assigned to the famous city of Shiraz by many sources, but others believe it is actually from the much less famous city of Takab, which in Sasanian times was called Shiz.

Still, Sasanian coins are pretty cool, and many types are available in nice condition at reasonable price. Please post as you acquire further Sasanian coins- I will probably learn something from the other replies!

 

By the way, there are several useful books that help you identify Sasanians. Normally, I'm using Göbl, very thorough, but now I used Karlsson, only about the silver, much more recent.

 

that's a good lookin' coin pic 7C, glad you got the camera up and running!

here's my most recent sassanian, holed but sweet...

 

One of the things I greatly like about Sasanian coinage, is the imitations by other peoples, in the first place Iranian Huns in many variations. They started as peoples that were dislodged from West China in the early centuries A.D., and finally settled on the eastern frontiers of the Persian empire (not related to the people of Attila the Hun). This is a drachm of the Sasanian king Peroz (457-484), minted in Amol, and another of the Alchon Huns, only a few decades later.

 

Thanks to all of you for these generous info. I feel I shall be posting more Sassanian coins soon whenever I can.

 

Hello again. I'm posting these 2 Sassanian coins which weigh respectively 2.67 g. and 3.31 g. I guess they're less common than the first one posted in the week-end.

 

Them Sassanian be thin, yo!


Sassanian AR Dirham

And other cultures adopted the thin design, like them homies from Tabaristan. In fact, they copied everything about the design. I guess Tabaristan was the China of the medieval Middle East. Ni Hao everyone!


Tabaristan AR Dirham

But not to be outdone, them Islamic caliphs adopted the dimensions, weight, and thinness of their coins from the Sassanians too, even if the coin themselves resemble an Arabic Alphabet soup bowl rather than them cool cat images of Sassanian kings.

Abbasid Caliphate AR Dirham

Uhm, I got the street cred with them cool dirhams.

PS: That was my attempt to talk like a Millenial. Not sure if I was successful or not.

 

Great and Sassy coins all!

I have a THIN Sassanian and a THICK Sassanian coin:

THIN:

Persia - Sassanian
Ardashir III (r. AD 628-629)
AR Drachm 36 mm x 3.85 grams
Obverse: Crowned beardless bust of Ardashir III right.
Reverse: Zoroastrian Fire Altar flanked by two attendents. Dated yr. 2 AY mint.
ref# Gobl II/1 Downturn year 2 Delta.
RARE

THICK:

SASSANIAN KINGS.
Shapur I. AD. 240-272.
Æ Tetradrachm(?) (10.78 gm; 27 mm).
Mint I (“Ctesiphon”), phase 1a, ca. AD 240-244.
Obv: Bust of Shapur I right, wearing diadem and mural crown with korymbos
Rev: Fire altar, flanked by two attendants wearing diadems (type 2) and mural crowns.
Ref: SNS type IIa1/1a, style Abi, pl. 20, 5-A8; Göbl type II/1; Paruck 95; Saeedi -; Sunrise 731(this coin).
Comments: Choice VF. From The Sunrise Collection

I captured this one because as stated in Wikipedia: "...decisive defeat of the Romans at the infamous Battle of Edessa, where the Roman army was defeated and captured in its entirety, including the Roman Emperor, Valerian. He became the first Roman Emperor to be captured as a prisoner of war, causing instability in the Empire. As such, the battle is generally viewed as one of the worst disasters in Roman military history"

 

that's a cool AE tet, if i knew there were sassanian AE tets, i had forgotten.

 

Alegandron, you got yourself two first rate rarities. One from the throne games after the end of Xusro II, the proud and bloodthirsty conqueror who fell from high and perished likewise by the sword. Ardashir, a grandson of Xusro, was only a child when he ascended the throne (therefore pictured without a beard).
His father, Kavad II, had died from the plague. With the help of an able minister, Ardashir reigned for half a year, then was killed with his whole administration and other backers by a new king from outside the Sassanian royal house, Shahrbaraz (who reigned only forty days).
Your drachm is in a delectable condition!

But the tetradrachm is even more attractive, I think. These heavy bronzes are known only from the start of the dynasty until the reign of Bahram II (274-293). I don't know if they are really tetradrachms, just heavy bronzes I think, but maybe others here know more about this. It's a splendidly detailed coin.

 

Thank you for the kind words and great info. A good friend of mine helped me with the Ardashir and I "lucked" into finding the Bronze. I knew the bronze was special as I did not find very many. I was also after a Shapur I whom defeated and captured Valerian. Combining the history with a harder to find bronze was a fun treat.

These are my first Sassanians, so I am very happy with the captures!