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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Only a Poor Old Man, post: 5935036, member: 111037&quot;]Something really cool and unexpected arrived this morning. Obviously I ordered it, so it wasn&#039;t unexpected in the literal sense, but it is a coin completely outside the normal areas of my collecting habit. I collect Greeks and Byzantines and apart from the very rare venture into Roman coinage I haven&#039;t really been interested in anything else. As some of you may recall, I usually shop retail and I am always on the lookout for affordable retail stock as collector competition has driven auction prices up. So, one fine evening this little gem showed up in the marketplace listings and it was love at first sight. It was a case of &#039;shut up and get my money&#039; as I bought it even though I am supposed to be saving for a nice Greek tet I am after. I managed to hold my excitement for a few minutes and did a bit of market research to make sure the price was fair (even though the coin was mis-attributed, but more about this later). Here it is, a lovely little drachm from Parthia, a historical entity and region that I know very little about.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1243638[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>I had seen some Parthian coins before here in Coin-Talk, but to be honest they never really clicked for me. Sometimes if I was busy I would not even bother to click on the thread if Parthia was in the title. It was just an area I wasn&#039;t interested in. I did find the fact that they used Greek writing interesting, but the art and style did not excite me. Until I saw this coin that is... This one excited me big time. And now that I hold it in my hands, I can see why. The detail is amazing and the art is reminiscent of the late-Hellenistic quality we are used to from the neighboring Greek-Roman coins of that era. Even though I admit I know little about Parthian coinage, I wouldn&#039;t be surprised if the die engraver was probably a Seleukid Greek immigrant. Something that should not be unusual considering the historical relations between those states. Another attractive aspect of this coin is the even cabinet toning which helps bring out the details even more. And the Greek legends on the reverse are very legible, which is strange considering that the Parthians were not Greek and probably only the high and well educated classes could read the coins. A nice characteristic is also the oval shape of the coin which according to my research was not an accident but the norm.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is where my research got interesting. Trying to find more about my coin my obvious starting point was the name of the King as this coin was attributed as being from the reign of Gotarzes I. Very soon it became evident that this might not be the case as another name was often popping up, that of Sinatruces, the son of Mithridates. it became apparent that my coin was from an era called the &#039;Dark ages of Parthia&#039; where we have very little historical resources and some kings are only known from their coinage, which is funny as many of these coins have no regal name on them, thus the susceptibility to mis-attributions. I came across the following article which provided valuable information and made a strong point about my coin being from Sinatruces&#039; reign:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/History/ashkanian/assar/assar-new-parthian-st.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/History/ashkanian/assar/assar-new-parthian-st.htm" rel="nofollow">https://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/History/ashkanian/assar/assar-new-parthian-st.htm</a></p><p><br /></p><p>One of the arguments stated is the use of the word &#039;Nikatoros&#039; on the reverse which is Greek for conqueror and could indicate Sinatruces&#039; great victory over Mithridates II. Additionally we can see on the coin the word &#039;Theopatoros&#039; meaning that he had a God for a dad, and who else comes to mind than the infamous Mithridates I? The examples of this era&#039;s coins in this article are also quite nice which indicate to me that the Kings of that period had an eye for fine coinage. In the beginning I panicked a bit as my price market research was all about Gotarzes, but after resuming it under Sinatruces I saw that my coin at a little over £150 was still good value for money. Another characteristic that points to Sinatruces is his funny hat with stags on top. In most coins I saw you can&#039;t really tell what they are, but happily on mine they do actually look like cute little Santa&#039;s helpers. </p><p><br /></p><p>I always like to give you a bit of a write up if the coin and the history surrounding it is fascinating, but to my despair I can&#039;t really do that here as little is known about that era. I am spoiled I guess from Greek and Byzantine kings where we even know what they liked for breakfast. In Sinatruces&#039; case we know that he had a famous dad and his brother was Phraates II, and as the dates indicate, he was quite old when he gained the throne, he must have been into his 80s. But hey, it happens today too as a recent example in a very recent election shows. He actually reigned for quite a bit so it is quite impressive that he lived to such old age during those times.</p><p><br /></p><p>My research is still ongoing and any help will be greatly appreciated. Apparently the Sinatruces attribution is not set in stone (or silver if you prefer). I would love your input on that as it is starting to get confusing! Show me your Parthian coinage and please share your knowledge. Am I now hooked to Parthians? Not sure yet, but it is looking interesting, and if there are more quality coins like this one, then I want more![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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