Unpublished Early Type 3 Issue

Sale: Triton X, Lot: 428. Estimate $1500.  Closing Date: Monday, 8 January 2007.  Sold For $1800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of PARTHIA. Arsakes I. 247-211 BC. AR Drachm (3.84 g, 12h). Mithradatkart-Nisa(?) mint. Head left, wearing bashlyk / ARSAKOU, archer (Arsakes I) seated left on backless throne, holding bow; Aramaic KRNY to left, monogram below throne. Sellwood 3.1 var. (orientation of legend); A&S Type 3, - (obv. 3/1, rev. unlisted); Shore 2 var. (same). VF, toned, areas of porosity. Unpublished variety of a very rare type.

This unpublished variety is apparently an unknown link between Sellwood’s type 3 and the earlier types 1 and 2 of Arsakes I. While the obverse/reverse types along with the Aramaic inscription and monogram place the coin in type 3, two anomalies occur on this coin. The first, and most significant, is the legend ARSAKOU which runs downward rather than upward. This orientation is standard on types 1 and 2. The other anomaly is the dress of the archer, with a long flap of drapery over his leg extending far below the seat level, ending even below his sleeve. This feature is also canonical on Sellwood’s types 1 and 2. These stylistic considerations strongly suggest that this is one of the earliest issues of type 3.