Sale: Triton VII, Lot: 473. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Monday, 12 January 2004.  Sold For $1800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of PARTHIA. Vonones I. 8-12 AD. Billon Tetradrachm (12.26 gm). Seleukeia on the Tigris mint. Dated Seleukid era Gorpiaios 321 (August, 10 AD). [BA]CILEYC BACILEUN ONUNHC, diademed bust left / BLCILC[WC] BLCILCWN LPCL[KOY] CVCIG[CTOY] DIKLIO CPIFLNOVC FILHLLHHOC, Nike walking left, holding wreath and palm; BKT (year) before, GORP[IAIOV] (month) in exergue. Sellwood 60.2; cf. Shore 328; BMC Parthia pg. 143, 2; MACW 612 var. (month). Good VF. Overstruck on a tetradrachm of Phraatakes and Musa (Sellwood type 58): on the obverse, ...OYCHC BA... which appears behind the head of Musa is visible; on the reverse, the Nike crowning the top of Phraatakes’ head is visible. Rare. ($1000)

After being forced into exile by his stepmother Musa, Vonones settled into a comfortable life in Rome (see lot 457). A few years later, the subsequent coups that removed Phraatakes and Orodes III from the throne led to his recall in 8 AD. However, the same Parthian nobles that put him in power found themselves dismayed at the extent of Vonones' Romanization: he did not even like to ride a horse! His coinage also broke with tradition, depicting Nike (a western convention) on the reverse rather than Arsakes I. Eventually a civil war ensued with Rome supporting Vonones, and the Parthian nobles backing Artabanos II. Four years later, Vonones was again in exile, this time taking the throne of Armenia. The Armenians had no great love for him either, and, with the help of Artabanos III, threw him out in 16 AD. Vonones wandered through Syria and Cilicia, attempting to gather forces for an invasion of Parthia, but was assassinated in 19 AD. There is no known coinage for Vonones as king of Armenia..