Another cool coin from Frank Robinson's auction (he should start paying me for all the publicity I've been giving him lately): Parthian Kingdom, Seleucia-on-Tigris mint. AR tetradrachm. Gotarzes II (40-51 AD), dated Apellaios, 359 Seleucid Era (=November, 47 AD). Obverse: Diademed bust of king left. Reverse: Seated king receives diadem from Tyche holding cornucopia; standard legend around "Basilews basilewn/ Arsakou euergetou/ Dikaiou/ Epiphanou philellenou" (King of Kings Arsaces, Benefactor, Just, God Manifest, Friend of the Greeks), in exergue partial month name. Cf. Sellwood 65.18-19 (month unlisted for this year), Shore 360v. Gotarzes II was not a nice guy. He overthrew his brother to claim the throne, and proceeded to execute many other family members and other nobles who he perceived to be a threat. Eventually a group of nobles went to Rome and asked for a replacement king to be sent for them. Meherdates, a son of Vonones I living at Rome, was sent back to overthrow Gotarzes. Unfortunately Meherdates was betrayed by some of his allies and captured alive. Gotarzes chose to show mercy and spare Meherdates' life, but sliced off his ears with a sword, as a physically mutilated man would not be accepted as king by the Parthians. (When your kindest recorded act is mutilating a man, it's safe to say you are not a kind person.) Gotarzes died soon afterwards, whether by natural causes or murder is not certain. Most Parthian tetradrachms (other than certain early issues) bear a date using the Seleucid calendar system, and this date normally includes the month as well as the year. Unfortunately, the month is at the very bottom part of the reverse legend, and that area is often off the flan. Parthian coin connoisseurs thus seek out tetradrachms where the month is clear and easily readable. What makes this example so special is that the month/year combination Apellaios 359 (November 47) is not listed in the standard references Sellwood and Shore, and as far as I know is completely unpublished. The existence of such a date is not surprising- Sellwood lists December 47- but it is a reminder that plenty of unpublished varieties are still out there.
Super tet!! Love the centering and detail!! Congrats on the unpublished variety! LOL, I have to agree with you.
Parthicus: Nice example. Agreed: November and an unpublished month/year combo. But, as I look closely at your pic, the year appears to be ENT (epsilon rather than theta for that first letter)...E (5), N (50), T (300)...355 SE = 43 AD. If indeed it's an E, then I'd call it a Sellwood 65.1 variant.
After careful review, I think you are right. The letter in question shows no sign of the right side of the letter that should be present for a theta, and the apparent dot in the middle may be just a swollen central crosslet, which occurs on a couple of the other definite epsilons. So, it looks like the date is actually November 43 rather than November 47. Which, as you say, would still be a novel month/year combo, so still an interesting find, but thanks for the correction.
