The Suicide of Mithradates

379, Lot: 591. Estimate $75. Sold for $160. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SWITZERLAND. Suicide of Mithridates / Death of Crassus’ Son at the Hands of the Parthians. Æ Medal (32mm, 13.30 g, 12h). By Jean Dassier & sons, 1740-1750. Suicide of Mithradates: at left, Mithradates drives a sword into his chest, a cup of ineffective poison at his feet, while a soldier advances toward him; dated year 689 (63 BC) in exergue / Death of Crassus’ Son Publius at the Hands of the Parthians (“Avarice Punished”): in the foreground of a battle scene, Publius receives a fatal arrow to the chest as a soldier grabs the reins of the general’s horse; dated year 700 (54 BC) in exergue. Eisler 46b; Catenacci pp. 96-7. EF.

From the RBW Collection, purchased from Numismatica Ars Classica, 11 December 1992.