Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 1447. Estimate $10000.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $18000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

TRAJAN. 98-117 AD. AV Aureus (6.89 g, 7h). Struck 116 AD. IMP TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GER DAC P M TR P, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind / REX PARTHVS in exergue, Trajan, laureate and in military uniform, seated left on camp bench set on daïs; behind, prefect standing left; to left, Parthian king standing right, knees bent in form of submission; behind, five soldiers standing around king, holding shields, spears, and three legionary standards. RIC II 310; Strack 220; Calicó 1082; BMCRE p. 106, † = Vicomte E. de Quelen Collection (Rollin & Feuardent, 14 May 1888), lot 1030 (same rev. die); Cohen 329 var. (obv. legend). VF, traces of lustre around the devices, a few spots of encrustation. Extremely rare, four known examples, three quoted by Strack (in Paris, Brussels, and the Vatican collections), and the de Quelen example (cited by RIC and BMCRE). ($10,000)

Parthian interference in Armenia prompted Trajan to declare war against their king, Osroes I, in 114 AD. He quickly re-established Roman control of Armenia, forced the submission of Osrhoene, and in 116 AD took Mesopotamia by defeating Osroes I. Rather than pursuing the Parthians into Iran, Trajan set up a pro-Roman Parthian "buffer state" in Mesopotamia under a puppet-king appointed by Trajan, Parthamaspates. This event that is commemorated on this issue.