412, Lot: 251. Estimate $100. Sold for $550. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of ARMENIA. Tigranes IV, with Erato. Second reign, circa 2 BC-AD 1. Æ Two Chalkoi (20mm, 4.67 g, 11h). Artaxata mint. Jugate busts of Tigranes, draped and wearing tiara, and Erato right (barely visible on this specimen) / Twin peaks of Mount Ararat. M&D –; Kovacs 180; Kovacs, Armenia II 5; CAA 128 (Tigranes II); AC 122 (Tigranes II). Fair, dark green surfaces, smoothed and tooled. Extremely rare.

This unprecedented issue features two firsts for Armenian issues: jugate busts on the obverse (of Tigranes and his queen, Erato), and the view of the twin peaks of Mount Ararat on the reverse. Kovacs, who persuasively argues for this being an issue of Tigranes IV, notes that the view is from the perspective of the city of Artaxata. Although not visible on most examples, the legend on the reverse, ΦIΛOKAIΣAP, clearly displays the Armenian king’s affection for his Roman ally, Augustus.