Picked up four coins from Eastern kingdoms over the past two weeks. No eye candy here, but two of them are plate coins (I now own four plates coins, all purchased this summer).
Got a good deal ($40) on a nice Kanishka (Kushan) tet, c. 130 - 158 AD, Mitchiner ACW #3100, 27mm. Obverse shows Kanishka sacrificing over an altar, reverse showing either Siva or the four-armed Oesho (I've seen these listed both ways). Despite the wear, this is actually a decent example for one of these:
Next, picked up my second Phraates drachm from Elymais. These date from the early to mid 2nd century AD. This is a van't Haaff 14.6.1-3.b. The obverse shows the king wearing a tiara, facing left, with the iconic Elymaean anchor to the right; the reverse shows Artemis standing right, holding a bow in one hand, plucking an arrow from her quiver with the other. Pretty decent for the type. And with some of those cool blue mineral deposits I've seen on one or two of my other Elymaean drachms - and on one of DavidUK's too:
The following two drachms, also from Elymais, are special for two reasons. First, they are plates coins, illustrated in Pieter Anne van't Haaff's "Catalogue of Elymaean Coinage." Second, they are purchased directly from Mr. van't Haaff himself, from his own collection.
First is a drachm of Kamnaskires-Orodes from the early to mid 2nd century AD. This coin illustrates van't Haaff type 12.3.1-1B.e in the reference book:
And last is Orodes IV, from the second half of the 2nd century AD. This coin is illustrated in the book (along with nifty illustrations produced by van't Haaff) as van't Haaff 17.1.1-2a:
Fyi, I have recently written a short article about Elymaean coins. If you would like the .pdf of the article, just send me your email address and I'd be happy to send it to you.
Posted 07/28/2016 9:03 pm
