90, Lot: 11. Estimate $150. Sold for $90. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of PARTHIA. Phraates II. 132-126 BC. AR Drachm (19mm, 4.28 gm). Tambrax mint. Struck circa 128-126 BC. Short-bearded bust left wearing diadem; TAM behind / Arsakes I seated right on omphalos, holding bow; guide-lines in legend. Sellwood 16.11; Shore 50; BMC Parthia pg. 17, 15. VF, toned, obverse and reverse scratches under tone.

From the Bellaria Collection. Ex Sotheby's (7 December 1982), lot 32 (part of).

As a minor son of the Great Mithradates, Phraates II began his reign as a co-ruler with his mother, Riinu. The scanty evidence from this period reveals Phraates’ preoccupation with fighting the Seleukids under their king, Antiochus VII, in the west and the Sacae in the east. However, the presence of silver and copper coins from Susa indicate that he began his rule consolidating Parthian hegemony in Elam; a task that had already started in the closing months of his father’s reign. Although successful against the Seleukids (see below), his struggle against the Sacae was a protracted and severe conflict which began favorably but ultimately concluded in his defeat and death.

The S16 drachms with partial mint names constitute the final issues of Phraates' coinage, as their locations indicate the prolonged and initially successful military campaign he conducted against the Sakae in north and north-eastern Parthia. With his headquarters likely situated at Tambrax, Phraates' forces pushed the Sakae as far as Margiane, but they were ultimately defeated in a battle in which Phaates perished.