Extremely Rare Drachm

Triton XVIII, Lot: 14. Estimate $10000. Sold for $7000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

WESTERN ASIA MINOR, Achaemenid Period. Uncertain satrap. Early 4th century BC. AR Drachm (16mm, 3.73 g, 1h). Bearded head right, wearing kyrbasia / Persian king, wearing kidaris and kandys, in kneeling-running stance right, holding spear in right hand, bow in left; BAΣIΛE to left; all within incuse square. Winzer 10.6 (Tiribazos; this coin illustrated); Meadows, Administration 343 var. (legend; Tissaphernes); Traite II 52 (Tissaphernes); Sunrise 69 (this coin). Good VF, toned, some porosity and faint cleaning marks. Extremely rare.

From the Sunrise Collection. Ex Peus 382 (26 April 2005), lot 176; Peus 376 (29 October 2003), lot 356; Peus 348 (2 May 1996), lot 174; Tkalec & Rauch (16 November 1987), lot 142.

The identity of the individual on the obverse of this issue is uncertain, though most references name Tirbazos or Tissaphernes. Both of these satraps issued coinage in their own name with their portraits, and researchers have attempted to draw parallels between those portraits and that on the present coinage, though none have been conclusive. As there is no evidence confirming the mint and date of origin of this coinage, any identification is little more than speculation.