I got three new old Parthian coins today. Not in great shape, but I’m a cheapo with these side projects: Auction description is: «3 pcs. Drachm from the mint in Mithradatkart; Phraates IV, 38–2 BC; Phraatakes, 2 BC -5 AD, Sellwood 52.14, 56.6, 56.13. (3)», but what do I know? Nothing. I have no book, no good websites, and shouldn’t really buy things based on so little knowledge. (My only source for Parthian coins have been our resident silent druid of the near east. ) If they are good coins, I know Phraatakes married his mother, that’s something... At 25$ each, it may even have been a decent deal. Edit: I found this online: «Phraatakes (literally, Little Phraates), was the son of Phraates IV of Parthia and his Roman wife, Musa. In 2 BC, Praatakes and his mother poisoned his father, and he took the throne of Parthia as Phraates V. According to the Roman historian Josephus, Phraatakes's brief rule came to an end in AD 4, when he decided to marry his own mother, outraging his subjects, who promptly rebelled against him. Phraatakes was forced to flee to Syria, where he was murdered soon thereafter.» Not a very successful ruler, then, good old Phraatakes.
If you google parthian coins ( images) you will see hundreds clicking on one may lead you to more info
I’ve been up to that the last two hours. The coins look good so far. This google activity should of course have been done prior to the auction... Reminds me of Google reporting that «what happens if the UK leaves the EU» was the most searched for the day after the Brexit vote. Only human.
I think so too. I really like Parthian coins. I should get a book on them, however. Edit: I found my library useful after all. Good old Historia Nvmorvm
I found this site, with coins by Sellwood number. That was very useful: http://www.parthia.com/parthia_sellwood.htm The Sellwood 52.14 that they have on their list has only the obverse pictured. However, it refers to a «Doug Smith» that has a website. Now that’s a familiar name...
Hi @svessien , The IDs given by the seller are correct: top coin (with eagle behind head) is Phraates IV, S. 52.14, leftmost is Phraatakes S. 56.13, bottom right is Phraatakes S. 56.6. All are from Mithradatkart mint. The parthia.fr and parthia.com websites are both excellent resources; not quite a substitute for Sellwood, Shore, and Sunrise, but unless you are going to specialize in Parthian you can probably get by with them (and of course posting here to double-check ). Twenty-five dollars each is a very good deal for these coins, are there any more?
Doug recommended Shore on his site. I’ll be looking for that. I like books too Glad to hear they look good and that the price was ok. I’ll send you a message.
https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/ki...e_parthian_coins__history/565375/Default.aspx I really liked the book by Fred Shore (who still sells coins but sold all his Parthian collection as far as I know). I do not think his book is worth the current used prices. I also loved the Sellwood book but it sells over the price I'd pay. I am not selling either of my copies but I wish I had bought a box when they were available. Both suffer from being before some of the recent attribution changes. Some of the changes seem certainly correct while some strike me as less than well explained by what I have seen. Today, I would use the Parthia.com and then search CNG using the Sellwood number and see if the ID changed. My page https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/parthar.html was aimed at beginners and has not been updated. Nor will it be. It is still OK for the target audience although I do suggest checking to see which ID's have changed. One suggestion: When shopping for Parthian coins, look up prospectives in the online sources and see if there is some feature that is really important in the ID and be sure your example is clear in that respect. For example, on coins where the king used his own name on the coin rather than just Arsakes, get a coin with that line clear (on flan at least). On month dated coins, get one with the month on the flan. I don't care if the coin is Fine or Mint State, a coin lacking those features due to centering need to be seriously discounted. The listings say your coins are Mithradatkart mint (I agree). Do you know on what basis that ID was made? Are you into Parthian to the point that you care about mint ID? One of my coins below from the same two rulers is Ekbatana mint. Your listing correctly separates the Sellwood 56.6 and 56.13 with the latter having a 'fire altar' behind the archer. Mine is a 56.13. Do you care about this sort of thing? There are many such distinctions in Parthian coinage. IMHO your coins are worth every bit of what you paid. I was once really into Parthian but lost a lot of interest when the name changes started coming hot and heavy but I did not have access to the new works explaining the changes. I wasted money buying the Sunrise collection book in the hope it would have enough to make this clear. It did not. It is a catalog of a very nice collection of so many things that the ones that I found interesting were not well represented. It lacks coins we each have shown on this thread. Sellwood lacks photos. That is why I recommend using the online (free) resources. Another great site is the late Tom Mallon's coverage of Asian coins. http://grifterrec.rasmir.com/ I miss Tom a lot. The Parthian section: http://grifterrec.rasmir.com/parthia/parthian.html
