319, Lot: 414. Estimate $150. Sold for $100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Trajan. AD 98-117. Æ Sestertius (29mm, 25.58 g, 7h). Rome mint. Struck AD 116-117. Laureate and draped bust right / [REX PARTHIS DATVS], Trajan seated left on platform, presenting Parthamaspates to kneeling Parthian; attendant standing behind emperor. RIC II 667; Woytek 594v-2; Banti 96. Fine, green patina.

Parthian interference in Armenia prompted Trajan to declare war against their king Osroes I in AD 114. He quickly reestablished Roman control of Armenia, forced the submission of Osrhoene, and in AD 116 took Mesopotamia by defeating Osroes I. Rather than pursuing the Parthians into Iran, Trajan set up a pro-Roman Parthian "buffer state" in Mesopotamia under a puppet-king Parthamaspates.