Ancient. Parthian? Mithradates? ID Please!

That's brilliant Bob. My friend says to give you a big thanks for what is a very informative post.

And a warm welcome from me too!

He asked me to attach a better image of the star. There is considerably more detail on the coin than a scan brings out, but he doesn't know if it is enough?




I know. I should just tell him to join, shouldn't I?

Thanks for the kind words, and for the closeup pic, Tom. It does indeed help. Sellwood 31.5's would have a six-pointed star, whereas Sellwood 31.6's have an eight-pointed star. I believe your friend's is the latter; I'm confident calling it a Sellwood 31.6, Mithradates III (Sellwood's Orodes I). Mint: Rhagae. Here's another 31.6, to give you a better sense of what the star looks like, from a VF coin: http://parthia.com/coins/pdc_21371.jpg

Bob

Bob, thanks for your informative post and for that very well-illustrated site. Can you supply a citation to an article Dr. Assar has written arguing his reattributions?

Glad to hear it, Tom.

Augustus1: Many of Assar's reattributions were printed in a three-part article in "The Celator" magazine. "Recent Studies in Parthian History, Part I" was in Vol. 14, #12, December 2000. Part II appeared in Vol. 15, #1, January 2001. Part III was in Vol. 15, #2, February 2001.

The articles are available online too, starting with Part I at: http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Histo...thian-st.htm

I believe that Assar has done some more re-assigning since those articles. There has, by the way, been some talk that Assar would complete Sellwood's unfinished third edition, but some folks in the know apparently doubt it'll happen - especially given that the Sylloge Nummorum Parthicorum is underway...

Bob