My second Parthian arrived very recently. A spontaneous purchase, I just happened to like the portrait and the price. It is not a wow piece like my first Parthian was, however it is still a very attractive coin and I am not sure why these little gems are not as popular as Greek or Roman coins. No complains from me though, it keeps the prices down and makes Parthian/Sasanid coinage a means to sustain the hobby for me in times of personal financial austerity. Funny thing happened though. My first Parthian was a Sinatruces coin that was misattributed as a Gotarzes one. This one, came with a tag claiming that it was an Orodes I. It only took a quick image search for me to realise that the other Orodes I coins on the net look nothing like this. So I seem to have another misattribution in my hands, even though the coin comes with an 1999 auction provenance. So, who is this guy? Portrait-wise, it looks a lot more like Orodes II, but I am not sure about it as those coins seem to come with a moon and stars on the obverse which my coin doesn't have. Looking at Assar's articles, I am starting to suspect that it may be an Artabanus II but again the image search returns drachms of very different style to mine. I am not sure where to go from here, so I hope that the Coin-Talk Parthian experts @Mat, @Sulla80 and @Parthicus can hopefully help! One thing for sure, I am not repeating the mistake with my first Parthian and will not fill the quickslab label before I am fairly certain of who this guy is!
You've got to be a genius to attribute some of these later Parthian coins; so many of them look alike. They are too confusing for me to collect ....
The first thing to do is to assign your coin the proper Sellwood number. (I consider any Parthian coin sold without its correct Sellwood number to be unattributed.) The best way, of course, is with a copy of Sellwood's book, but if you don't have one handy then https://www.parthia.com/parthia_coins_parthia.htm will help you. Your coin is Sellwood 30.14. Now, who issued this coin? Unfortunately, this issue falls right in the "Parthian Dark Ages" of c. 95- 70 BC (a term that describes our ignorance of the history, not so much the actual circumstances in Parthia at the time). Sellwood simply assigns it to "Unknown King", Shore assigns it to Orodes I with dates of c.90-77 BC, and Assar assigns it to "Arsakes XVI", that is, the 16th Arsakid king, with unknown personal name, and reigning c.78-62 BC. Most collectors and auction houses are moving to accept Assar's assignments, so that's what I'd put on the holder (along with the all-important Sellwood number).
I was going to reply that it looked like "Arsakes XVI" since it looks like mine a bit. Very nice. Arsakes XVI (78 - 61 B.C.) AR drachm O:short-bearded bust left wearing diadem, hair covering ear; single-pellet-ended torque; circular border of pellets. R: Archer (Arsakes I) seated right on throne, holding bowfive-line Greek inscription with left two lines read from inside = ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ ΘΕΟΠΑΤΟΡΟΣ ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΟΥ Margiane Mint 19mm 3.93g Sellwood 30.20
I am 100% certain that this thread has answered the question of why the coins are not so popular. They can be confusing to the experts and they definitely are confusing to most of us. Some are pretty certainly attributed and have not been reassigned since Sellwood but even that is less than 100% certain in every case. We think we know; proving it is harder. The correct answer was given by Parthicus: get the Sellwood number. Get over holding names like Unknown king or Arsakes the something or another against the coins. Many people can not see why they should bother. Others find it especially interesting. I must admit I wish more of the players would have worn jerseys with their name printed on in big letters. A few did. One even used clear Greek letters. If every Arsakes followed the lead of Vonones I (below) the series would be much more popular and guys like me could not afford to collect them. Vonones put his name on both sides. Good king! He even put on the reverse his claim that he defeated Artabanos Notice I did not give the Sellwood number for my coin so it is 'unattributed' according to Parthicus (with whom I agree fully). Instead I will show the page (3 of 3) from the book and allow anyone interested to ID it themselves. I hope it is obvious that I am doing this to point out to anyone who may not know that Sellwood wrote his book; he really wrote it. It is a super cool book and IMHO required to collect these coins. Fred Shore's Parthian Coins & History may be better because it has pictures but Fred took the easy way out and had it typeset in the ordinary manner. Neither book is cheap used. Both should be reprinted. I doubt either ever will.
Although it isn't perfect - I do like this tool for learning how to identify the different rulers - this will usually get you to the right Sellwood number, and then Chris Hopkins' attribution correlation table can help you to navigate the renames. @Alwin's site is one I am visiting more often with lots of interesting materials and some especially beautiful examples of these coins. I keep getting pulled in by interesting portraits - here's one of Arsakes XVI - I don't feel 100% confident with my attribution to Rhagae mint, spelling error in right legend on the reverse - for now it is 30.16... Kings of Parthia, Arsakes XVI, 78/7-62/1 BC, AR Drachm, Rhagai mint, Struck circa 78/7-68/7 BC Obv: Diademed bust left; torque ends in pellet Rev: Archer (Arsakes I) empty cloak sleeve on reverse reaches well below the seat, seated right on throne, holding bow Ref: Sellwood 30.16 (Unknown King); Sunrise –; Shore 134 Legend: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΜPΓΑΛ[ΟΥ] ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ ΘΕΟΠΑΤΟΡ[ΟΣ] ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΟ[Υ]
