Sale: Triton VI, Lot: 504. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Monday, 13 January 2003.  Sold For $3250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of PARTHIA. Mithradates II (?). 123-88 BC. AR Tetradrachm (15.80 gm). Seleukeia mint. Diademed bust right / BASILEWS ARSAKOU EPIFANOUS FILELLHNOS, Demeter enthroned left, holding Nike and cornucopiae in left, nereid supporting throne; TY and monogram in exergue. Shore -; Sellwood 23.2; Le Rider, Susa pl. 71, -. Toned, good VF, scattered porosity, attractive portrait. ($2000)

Mr. Sellwood has noted that the tetradrachms of Type 23 have a quite different portrait ­ and not merely less aged ­ than is depicted on Type 24. Building on this artistic evidence, Dr. Assar is presently compiling evidence from cuneiform tablets suggesting that there may be a gap between the reigns of Artabanus I and Mithradates II, and that Type 23 may actually be the coinage of a previously unidentified king, perhaps one of Mithradates II's brothers who is known to have been killed in battle.