I was at my local coin shop yesterday. There are others, but they don't have the stock of world coins and ancients as my favorite shop in Willow Glen. I was going through a box of mostly worn LRBs, with some Alexandrian tetradrachms and earlier Roman bronzes. On top was this Sassanian drachm. I know really nothing about this coinage, other than it is Sassanian, which really isn't saying very much. So, I told Sal that I would post it on CT for those folks who know a whole lot more about these drachms. It weighs 4.05 grams Could this be a drachm of Valkash? Thanks!
Wow, a Sasanian drachm posted for ID that's not Khusro II! I can see why you guessed Valkash, but close examination of the crown and the inscription before the portrait make me think this is Varahran V (420-439). Mintmark on reverse is a little hard to read but may be AY (Airan Khurra Shahpur). A neat find for a local coin shop!
Thank you! I was surprised to find this coin in a box of dark, mostly worn late Roman bronzes, but I think it was just thrown in at some point.
Nice pick up....I think Valkash coins all have a double border on the obverse? Could also be an AL mintmark but I'm not sure
@nerosmyfavorite68 : Airan Khurra Shahpur (also spelled Eran-khvarrah-Shapur) was a city in Khuzistan Province, near the border with what is now southern Iraq. And that's all the info I can find on that city right now.
Pick bins are fun. The last one I remember doing was a Jon Kern one, c. 2010 (if one counts different priced bags as a pick bin). Did you end up buying the coin? (the post made it a bit unclear). If it's not too much, I would snap it up if I were you.
Yes, going through a box of loose mixed ancients can be a nice way to pass the time. I need to talk to the dealer in a couple of weeks, when he returns to the shop. I do not collect this series in any comprehensive way, so perhaps this drachm would be a nice type coin.
Jonathan Kern was one of my favorite dealers back when he had bags after bags of pick out coins. Some were even 'Your choice $500' but I got more from the $20-50 ones. I recall him having a bag with nothing but Tiberius Tribute Pennies and another with Athenian owls but I was usually in the third century silver bags.
I bought a lot of great things from Jonathan over the years. I recall that back in the '90s, he had a ton (and I mean a hoard weighing a full, literal ton!) of Judaean 'widow's mites'. Choice VFs were $15 or so. The good ol' days!
I went to see Jonathan at his shop here in Lexington a few years ago. He had a silver ingot from the Atocha on the floor being used as a door stop.
