Good afternoon! Just wanting to share a new Parthian with everyone. Newest one is of Vologases III. Vologases reigned from 105-147 A.D. and had to deal with not only the Romans, but also various other contenders for his power. Osroes I, Parthamaspates, and Mithradates IV (whose coins bear a strong similarity to Volo III's) all challenged him, with little success due mostly in part to roman incursions. Vologases was not repulsed, and ruled for 42 years. Vologases III's coins are amongst the most common of Parthian coins, as output was substantial due to his long reign. However, this one is quickly becoming one of my favorite later parthians for its strike, color, and condition. If anyone has anything new, please share. Vologases III AR drachm 105-147 A.D. Ecbatana mint. Sellwood 78.5 3.8 gms. Ex FSR.
pretty Parthian- I have one of his a little more worn: I believe someone here on CT told me he has had a name change to Pacorus I? It is amazing he lasted for over forty years considering the fates of his predecessors.
I have one of these. I have been too lazy to crack it out of the slab and all I have are the slabber's pics: https://www.ngccoin.com/certlookup/4167303-014/NGCAncients/ The slabbing firm attributes these as "Pacorus (circa 78-120 AD; also attributed to Vologases III)" These come from the Ecbatana mint [= Hamadān, Iran]. Both of your examples have a dot under the A under the bow on the reverse. There is supposed to be a dot there. Mine has no dot. That started to trouble me. Sometimes with Parthian silver coins a specimen shows up that is so nice it doesn't look 1800 years old. I started worrying about authenticity. Fearfully I went through acsearch.com looking for other examples without a dot and found several. For example, http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1364807 . There are several no-dot dies and they all have similar style. I suspect all of the no-dot specimens were done by the same ancient die cutter.
Too bad you didn't pick up the one below, Ed. Although labeled (incorrectly) as Pacorus/Volo III, it is the similar-looking "Unknown King" (Sellwood 83.1), worth - in this condition - well more than a thousand dollars.
Wow! What a find! Yes, i could see how these could be confused with Volo III. What seemes to me though to be the givaway that it is the unknown king is the size of the font (for lack of a better term) of the reverse lettering. On this one the font seems much smaller than that in which is encountered on the Volo III series of drachms. The rendering of the kings portrait also looks more narrow to me also.
Very nice! Free the king from the plastic! Also, does you're coin have two dots on the reverse that serve as the archers seat? If so, it is likely a Sellwood 78.5. Interesting variant to say the least!
I do not pretend to understand the distinctions based on bands and ties or the market values placed upon them but the Sell. 83.1 omission of Arsakes at the right does seem interesting at least. Whether it is worth $1000 would seem to depend on whether there were two bidders in the room that noticed. As far as Vologases III goes, the huge number of his coins would seem to allow for variations in style. Sellwood attracted my attention with the comment on page 266, "However, we find coins of this prince altered in just the same manner to assimilate them to the standard issues of Vologases III." Can you expand/explain this and, better, show a coin altered in this manner? Common ones as far as I know with the last of odd style and dot under chair in place of +.
The one that i have pictured, i believe, is what you may be alluding to. This particular one has the archers seat represented as a sort of "v". Im thinking along the same lines, that Volo III had such a long reign, with very high coin output, that variations of subtle details are seemingly the norm.
Neat. A Parthian coin is on my short-term "to do" list for additions to the Eclectic Box. I expect I'll be adding one by this summer, most likely. Time to start browsing and watchlisting some stuff!
While I am incapable of understanding the desire for a 'just one' collection, I do wonder which Parthian carries the most appeal as the one and only Parthian coin in such a collection. I might suggest one of those drachms with the exceptional headgear. I really would like one of these with the row of recumbent stags clear enough to tell what was intended without reading it in a catalog. I believe recent reworkings have given this to Sinatruckes now? I have not kept up with new Parthian theories.
I agree with you Doug and the first Parthian coin I got was a Sinatrukes for that very reason. It is a great hat. Like you I wanted the woodland creatures to look like real animals. This is said to be "Choice AU 5/5 - 4/5" and "Fine Style" but it still isn't 100% obvious that these are stags unless you already know what to look for.
"A man walks down the street in that hat, people know he's not afraid of anything." - Hoban "Wash" Washburne, Firefly, season 1, episode 14 "The Message" Sellwood lists 12 varieties of type 78 drachm, the first couple have shorter-than-normal beards but most are distinguished based on the archer's seat or various extra symbols on the reverse. The Parthicus Collection had examples of 11 of these varieties, missing only 78.9 (distinguished by an X above the bow on reverse). I have no idea if 78.9 is actually that rare, or if I just didn't happen to obtain one before selling the collection.
