Sale: Triton VII, Lot: 465. Estimate $750.  Closing Date: Monday, 12 January 2004.  Sold For $1300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of PARTHIA. Phraatakes. 2 BC - 4 AD. Billon Tetradrachm (13.11 gm). Seleukeia on the Tigris mint. Dated Seleukid era Uperberetaios 310 (September, 2 BC). Diademed bust left, no wart on forehead / BLCILC[WC] BLCILCW[N] LPCLKOY CVCIGCTOY DIKLIOU [C]PIFLNOVC [FIL]HLLHN[OC], Phraatakes seated right on throne, Tyche standing left before him, presenting a diadem and holding cornucopiae; A monogram between, IT (year) above, [V]PCIBCICTA[IOV] (month) in exergue. Sellwood 56.3 var. (legend); Shore -; BMC Parthia pg. 136, 1 var. (legend); MACW -. Darkly toned, near EF, thin surface flan crack on obverse. Exceptional strike for issue. ($750)

Ex J. Vinchon 7 (22-23 May 1995), lot 164.

Phraatakes was the son of the slave girl Musa, who was given to the Parthian king Phraates by the Romans in 20 BC. Musa eventually became Phraates’ queen and manuvered her son into an unchallenged position to succeed the king after murdering Phraates in 2 BC. In a seeming attempt to legitimize his rule and secure her influence, Phraatakes and Musa were married in 2 AD, and began issuing a coinage containing both of their portraits (see lots 470-2). This union was not unprecedented in certain eastern cultures, but did little to secure their position among the Parthian nobility, as they were, after all, of Italian stock. Within two years they successfully overthrew them both and placed Orodes III upon the throne.