Three Rare Armenian Bronzes

CNG 90, Lot: 650. Estimate $500. Sold for $950. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of ARMENIA. Tigranes V. Circa AD 6-12. Æ (16mm, 5.29 g, 1h). Head right, wearing tiara / Elephant advancing left. Kovacs, Armenia II 8; CAA 150; AC 172. VF, dark brown patina. Rare.

Tigranes V was the grandson of Herod the Great, and was raised as a royal hostage in Rome. Since Tigranes was the son of an Armenian princess, Augustus saw him as a suitable puppet of Rome, and installed him as king in AD 6, during a time when the Armenian house was broken into pro-Roman and pro-Parthian factions. Very little is known of his reign.