Sometimes Small is Better than Big

About 20 years ago a fellow collector showed me examples of his Parthian coins & I was amazed at the extraordinary beauty of the early issues. The Parthians were obviously "Hellenized" & went so far as to use the Greek language on their coins. Some of their portraits surpassed the Greek portraits circulating at that time. So I decided to get a tetradrachm of Mithradates II, which were plentiful but expensive. I found a handsome example struck at the Seleucia on the Tigris Mint, 32 mm dia., 15.77 gm, & bought it. See photos below. After prizing this coin for a decade several things about it started to annoy me. The detail on the portrait was incomplete, especially the hair, the reverse die was to large to match the obverse die, & the coin lacked attractive toning from being over-cleaned. And then I stumbled on a beautiful looking drachma that had everything the larger coin didn't. This coin was struck at the Ecbatana Mint, 19 mm dia., 3.93 gm, & cost just a fraction of what I paid for the larger coin. See photos below. I decided to part with the larger coin & kept the smaller one.

 

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It's gorgeous!! What a fantastic strike and unusually good artistry.

(edited: I misread the OP and thought the top coin was the keeper). Both are delightful. The top coin has more artistic reverse.)

 

That’s a real treasure. Congrats!

 

Outstanding portraits on both! I agree, that drachm has it all - it's a keeper, for sure. My avatar is soooo happy right now...he likes these kinds of posts.

 

Both are great coins I think. I would be happy with either.

 

Nice. I may have to look for one of those.

 

That's a great coin! It's too easy to dismiss smaller coins but many are even more artistic than their larger counterparts.

 

Sorry bro, bigger is always better. I would have kept #1.

 

Mithradates II drachms are easy to like. I have shown mine here way too often. I need to shoot a new detail shot of the critter on his torc. This is a crop from the overall photo.

 

AncientJoe, I'm flabbergasted after viewing your spectacular coin collection! You are blessed to be the owner (caretaker) of such a beautiful & historically important collection. There aren't enough superlatives to describe this collection. This collection must be the envy of most of the worlds museums. Some of my favorites are: the Kimon Decadrachm, the Rhegium Tetradrachm, the Trihemistater of Tanit & the Horse, the Macedonian Tetradrachm of Apollo & the Lyre, the 100 Litrai coin with Heracles strangling the Lion, the Portait Stater of Alexander the Great, the Colosseum Sestertius with Titus on the reverse, the Port Ostia Sestertius with Nero, the Aureus of Elagabalus with the Emesa Stone, the Battle of Actium Aureus, & the Silver Medallion of Constantine the Great. Thanks for sharing.

 

dougsmit, your Mithradates II drachma is a beauty too. The creature on the end of the torque is rarely seen on the drachma denomination, & knowing the Parthian love of Greek culture, it must be a Griffin.

 

Awesome coin!

 

My Mith II is embarrassed to be hanging out on this page, but I forced him to show up anyway.

 

Severus Alexander, It looks like your drachma has a Griffin on the end of the torque too. Your coin displays the beginning of the stylistic breakdown that plagued the Parthian coinage.

 

Boo hiss, boo hiss....

 

@Al Kowsky both are beautiful coins. I would have thought with larger dies it would be easier to engrave.

 

Thanks! I appreciate the compliments. It's been an enjoyable collection to put together so far. It's hard to say which coins are my favorite (like picking a preferred child ) but those are all among my personal favorites as well.

 

Super nice coins @Al Kowsky ! You should be very proud of them.

 

Tell me if I'm wrong, but both OP coins are of the early Mithradates II type, Sellwood 24. I must say both are very attractive and way above what I would be able to acquire, compliments! (Maybe if I weren't buying dozens of Roman Provincials).
The obverses are just about as likeable, but the reverse of the tetradrachm has more realistic detail. I know what I would want...

I'm not going to show my own pitiful Miths here in this fine thread. Or maybe just to show what's hanging at the low end.



This is a later type of Mithradates II, Sellwood 29.2. 18 mm, 4.04 gr. It's dear to me because it's one of the few coins left from my boyhood collection, I bought it in 1972.

And here are two bronzes. These are not nearly as beautiful as the silver coins. Why do I want them? They were nowhere in 1972, no archer on the reverse, always a little different from others.

The larger one, light brown, with the horsehead reverse: 17 mm, 3.44 gr, is Sellwood 27.10. The darker and smaller one, 15 mm, 2.35 gr., could be Sellwood 27.11, with Nike walking right on the reverse, surrounded by five lines of Greekish text. On the obverse, no marks or monograms around the bust of Mithradates II.





Mistake in the Sellwood numbers of the bronzes corrected: they are not 29 (with the tiara), but 27.

 

Oh wait... I misread the original post. The coin with red background is the tetradrachm?! I thought that was your new coin.

Hmm. I would have kept that larger and just let it tone a bit. We all have our preferences but the very slightly weak hair detail doesn't bother me. The lack of toning doesn't bother me-- that changes over time anyway. The tetradrachm's reverse is so much more artistic to my eye, but perhaps you value full legends more than I do.