69, Lot: 45. Estimate $150. Sold for $134. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SASANIAN KINGS of PERSIA. Ardashir I. 224-241 AD. AR Drachm (25mm, 4.32 gm). Mint B (Ecbatana), Phase 3. Crowned bust right, crown with neck and ear flaps / Fire altar with diadems, censers below; fire variant 2 on solid base. Michael Alram, "The Beginning of Sasanian Coinage," Bulletin of the Asia Institute 13, pg. 73; Göbl III/1. VF.

Although Alram associates this obverse type with mint B (Ecbatana), the reverse fire-altar in his schema of that mint is angular; the columnar type on this example, rather, should indicate mint C (Ctesiphon), though the crown in the obverse type for that mint has neither neck nor ear flaps.