Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 748. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of PARTHIA. Vardanes II. Circa AD 55-58. AR Tetradrachm (14.31 g, 12h). Seleukeia on the Tigris mint. Dated Panemos SE 369 (June AD 58/9). Diademed bust left, wearing slight beard, earring, and spiral torque; all within pelleted border / [BA(three-bar Σ)IΛE[ω(three-bar Σ)]/BA(three-bar Σ)IΛEω[N AP(three-bar Σ)A[K(quadrate O)Y]/EVEPΓE[T(quadrate O)Y] ΔIKAI(quadrate O)[V] EΠIΦAN[(quadrate O)Y(three-bar Σ)/ΦIΛEΛΛHN(quadrate O)(three-bar Σ), Vardanes seated left, receiving diadem from Tyche standing right; ΘΞT (year) in field above, month off flan. Sellwood 69.12; Shore 383. Good VF.

From the Todd A. Ballen Collection.

Vardanes II was the son of Vologases I, possibly unseating his father for a short period. Other than his numismatic contribution to history, there is little known of him.