90, Lot: 131. Estimate $400. Sold for $240. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SASANIAN KINGS of PERSIA. Bahram II, with Prince 3. 276-293 AD. AR Drachm (26mm, 3.77 gm). Crowned and cuirassed bust of Bahram right facing the cuirassed bust of his son (Prince 3) left, who wears a bonnet with a boar's head / Fire altar with attendants; pellets on altar column. Göbl IV/1; Alram 721. Good Fine/VF, darkly toned, porous, laminations. Rare.

From the Bellaria Collection.

Although his father’s hold on power ensured his succession, Bahram was almost instantly confronted with internal opposition from his uncle, Narse, and brother, Hormizd. he eventually defeated his brother, a governor in the east, but a new threat emerged in the west. Taking advantage of the internal conflicts of the Sasanians, the Roman emperor, Carus, embarked on a major eastern campaign. Like his predecessors, Lucius Verus and Septimius Severus, his armies eventually captured Ktesiphon. Luckily for Bahram, Carus died shortly thereafter, forcing Carus’ son, and co-emperor, Numerian, to order a withdrawal, but not before negotiating a settlement favorable to the Romans. Throughout Bahram’s reign the consolidation of power of the central religion that his father began, continued, but persecutions began to abate.