90, Lot: 57. Estimate $200. Sold for $140. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of PARTHIA. Vologases III. 105-147 AD. Billon Tetradrachm (28mm, 13.45 gm). Seleukeia on the Tigris mint. Dated Seleukid Era Periteiou 433 (January, 122 AD). Diademed bust left, short beard, ear visible, lock of hair on brow, wearing tiara decorated with "hooks"; E behind / Vologases seated left on throne, Tyche standing right before him, presenting a diadem and holding sceptre; year above, month in exergue. Sellwood 79.6; Shore 408; BMC Parthia pg. 210, 11. Near VF, toned, areas of encrustation. Struck on a large flan with full date visible.

From the Bellaria Collection. Ex Dr. Mesrop Abgarians Collection (Malter 51, 2 June 1993), lot 334.

Vologases III entered the field of contenders for the kingship late in the reign of Pakoros II, and achieved dominance by 105 AD. His reign, long by the standards of this period of Parthian history, was primarily consumed with defending his position from a number of challengers, many of whom struck their own coins: Osroes I, Mithradates V, and an unknown king. Osroes proved a strong challenge, securing Mesopotamia for himself, and relegating Vologases to his base in Iran. In 129 AD, Vologases appears to have finished with Osroes, but then Mithradates IV siezed control of Iran. He was succeeded in 147 by Vologases IV, apparently a son of Mithradates V.