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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1786806, member: 19463&quot;]While I&#039;m being negative:&nbsp; The most common Sasanians are Khusro II.&nbsp; Coins of his (late) period tend to have both mint and date information spelled out in a script that makes &quot;It&#039;s Greek to me&quot; a kindergarten level statement.&nbsp; With practice I can figure out most mints and have a pretty good idea about half of the dates on coins in good condition.&nbsp;&nbsp; Earlier Sasanian kings did not include mint and date information but did sometimes write other things (like their names) on the coins.&nbsp; That means it is possible to buy a coin and beat your head against the wall only to realize later that the issue was not open dated or mintmarked.&nbsp;&nbsp; At the very least that means you should not hold a dealer&#039;s feet to the fire expecting something that he can not supply.&nbsp; Yes, scholars may date these earlier issues and assign mints according to style patterns and such guesstimates might best be taken as something we are glad to know but not something we can bet will still be considered valid after the next scholar puts out a critical reevaluation of the whole mess.&nbsp;&nbsp; That is what we call &#039;numismatics&#039;.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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