Here's my sole win from Frank S. Robinson's most recent auction: Indo-Parthians. Abarshahr mint (?). AE drachm. Successors of Sanabares II (second half of second century AD). Obverse: Bust of king left, wearing diadem with triangular bow behind head. Reverse: Seated archer right, Abarshahr mint symbol (A above Pi) below bow, inscription behind (either badly blundered Greek or not-so-blundered Aramaic-Parthian). Sellwood 93.6-8, Shore 479, Sunrise 504, Koch Group 12. This coin: Frank S. Robinson Auction 111, Lot 114 (February 11, 2020). This coin is part of the enigmatic "Sanabares" bronze coins that are part of the Indo-Parthian series, but are listed by David Sellwood as the last type (93) in his definitive work on Parthian coins. Sanabares I was apparently a rebel against the Parthians in the eastern part of the empire, though his exact dates are disputed (mid-to late-1st century AD seems to be the usual range). He may have been part of the Arsakid royal family (some coins in the series use the Arsakid royal symbol), but almost nothing is known about him. While early coins in the series clearly give his name (Basileos Sanabares) in Greek, later coins such as this type have what is usually described as a badly blundered Greek legend. However, in her 1990 ANS monograph "A Hoard of Coins from Eastern Parthia", Heidemarie Koch reinterprets the type based on analysis of a number of specimens from a hoard in the J. Paul Getty Museum. The letter forms of the inscription on her Type 12 coins is very consistent in these coins, and by combining the partial inscriptions on many specimens she reconstructs it as Aramaic lettering (which is known to have been used to write the Parthian language) that spells out ABLShTR starting above the bow and reading counterclockwise. She reads this as "Abarshahr". The name Abarshahr is known from the early Sasanian period, where it is the name of a province in the eastern part of the empire, bordering Hyrcania and Margiana. If Koch's hypothesis is correct, it would seem to push back the use of this name for the region, as the earliest attested use in literary sources is from the time of the Sasanian emperor Shapur I (240-270 AD), while this coin type is likely from the second half of the second century AD, leaving a gap of over fifty years. I find Koch's hypothesis convincing, but not all the experts seem to agree. R.C. Senior, in the catalogue of the Sunrise collection (2011), lists this type as "Sanabares (?) [Usurper, mid 1st century AD]". Regardless, it's an interesting coin, and worth further study. Please post your "Sanabares"-type coins here, or whatever else you think is relevant.
