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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Parthicus, post: 3596626, member: 81887&quot;]Here&#039;s a coin I won a couple of months ago at auction:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]961977[/ATTACH] </p><p>Elymais.&nbsp; AE tetradrachm (15.38 g, 28 mm).&nbsp; Kamnaskires-Orodes (early-mid 2nd century AD).&nbsp; Obverse: Diademed bust facing slightly left with beard and large tufts of hair on sides, crescent and star and inverted anchor to right, Aramaic legend starting at 1 o&#039;clock and reading counterclockwise &quot;kbnhzkyr wrwd MLK&#039; BR wrwd MLK&#039;&quot; (King Kamnaskires-Orodes, son of King Orodes).&nbsp; Reverse: Badly degraded bust within legend that was once Greek.&nbsp; van&#039;t Haaff 12.1.1-1A.&nbsp; This coin: Pars Coins Auction 1, lot 199 (April 8, 2019) at $60 hammer.</p><p><br /></p><p>Elymais was a Parthian vassal state, located between the east bank of the Tigris and the Zagros Mountains, roughly where the province of Khuzestan is in modern Iran.&nbsp; Very little is known of the history of Elymais, with many of the later kings known only from their coins.&nbsp; Many of the kings bear Parthian names (Orodes and Phraates), but they are apparently not the same monarchs as the Parthian kings of the same name, although the later Elymaean kings do seem to have been an offshoot of the Parthian Arsakid royal family. The extensive coinage consisted of tetradrachms and drachms, initially of good silver but degrading to bronze for the later issues.&nbsp; Many of the bronze coins have survived in large numbers, and often in decent condition, so they are popular with collectors, though relatively few specialize in the series.&nbsp; A comprehensive catalogue of Elymaean coins was published by the late Pieter Anne van&#039;t Haaff in 2007, which has become the standard reference for the series.</p><p><br /></p><p>This coin was offered at auction as a coin of Orodes II, van&#039;t Haaff 13.3.1-3A.&nbsp; However, when I began researching the coin I realized that this could not be correct.&nbsp; Tetradrachms of Orodes II do feature a facing bust, but wearing a tall tiara and with no side tufts of hair.&nbsp; Careful examination of the legend sealed the ID.&nbsp; Orodes II&#039;s obverse tet legend is solely to the left of the bust (not above) and reads simply &quot;wrwd MLK&#039;&quot; (King Orodes).&nbsp; My coin has a much longer legend, starting above the bust, and the first letters are very clearly the Aramaic letters &quot;kb&quot;, which are found only on obverses of Kamnaskires-Orodes.&nbsp; This illustrates the importance of doing your own research to attribute your coins.&nbsp; Even major professional dealers with decades of experience can make mistakes, particularly in &quot;fringe&quot; areas, and they may not have the hours to dig through references just to be sure of the exact attribution of a $50 coin.&nbsp; Please post your coins of Elymais, or else coins that were misattributed by a major dealer.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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