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Message:: [QUOTE="Al Kowsky, post: 3177418, member: 97383"]About 20 years ago a fellow collector showed me examples of his Parthian coins & I was amazed at the extraordinary beauty of the early issues. The Parthians were obviously "Hellenized" & went so far as to use the Greek language on their coins. Some of their portraits surpassed the Greek portraits circulating at that time. So I decided to get a tetradrachm of Mithradates II, which were plentiful but expensive. I found a handsome example struck at the Seleucia on the Tigris Mint, 32 mm dia., 15.77 gm, & bought it. See photos below. After prizing this coin for a decade several things about it started to annoy me. The detail on the portrait was incomplete, especially the hair, the reverse die was to large to match the obverse die, & the coin lacked attractive toning from being over-cleaned. And then I stumbled on a beautiful looking drachma that had everything the larger coin didn't. This coin was struck at the Ecbatana Mint, 19 mm dia., 3.93 gm, & cost just a fraction of what I paid for the larger coin. See photos below. I decided to part with the larger coin & kept the smaller one.[ATTACH=full]817976[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]817977[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]817978[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]