Elymais!

[ThatParthianGuy]

Hello!

I was at the NYINC last Friday and I decided to add this Kamnaskires V of Elymais tetradrachm to my mix. Elymais was a Parthian sub-kingdom in Susiana, spanning roughly from the east bank of the Tigris to the western fringes of Persis.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=42619&pos=0

This is my first coin from Elymais, and I just love it!

-Zeki

[Kamnaskires]

Another Elymais convert!  Well done, TPG!  An excellent pick-up – a superior example of the type.  Well, that's it: now, you're going to have to dig deeper into the Elymaean stockpiles.

I think your coin would more properly be attributed as a van’t Haaff 9.1.1-7 rather than 9.1.1-4.  Reason: While the description you provides suggests that the date is on flan and visible (ΖΞΣ = 267 SE = 46/5 BC), it seems to me that it is off flan.  If ΖΞΣ were indeed visible, it would be a 1-4.  However, with no date visible, I would call it a 1-7, which is reserved for Kamnaskires V tets in which, like this example, the date (in exergue on the reverse) is either “obscured or off flan” (van't Haaff).  There are a couple of marks along the edge at 6:00 on the reverse, but I personally think it would be a stretch to call them the zeta-xi-sigma combo.  Just my two cents there.

Congrats on a great acquisition.

[Stkp]

I was at the NYINC last Friday

I was also at the NYINC last Friday. I didn't see your beautiful coin, but I did come across a dealer with two bags of Elymaean bronze drachms. They appear to be from two separate hoards; one bag contained coins with a blue patina, the coins in the other bag lacked this. I enjoyed looking through several hundred coins. There were probably at least a few that I don't have that were in desirable grade, but the dealer was not very patient about customers spending a lot of time at his table studying his bulk coins individually. I felt rushed and departed empty handed.

By coincidence, the dealer from whom I bought my first half-dozen Elymaeans happened to be sitting at the same table, looking through a bag of other coins.

Stkp

[esnible]

I saw the same bags at NYINC.

Some dealers go through those bags and pick out the best 10 or 50 for their inventory.

As a collector, I have found a good way to handle such bags is to make a few little piles of decent coins for each ruler or reverse type you are interested in.  Once you have a small set of candidates, it is easy to find the best obverse and best reverse for each pile.  Then buy both or just the very best.

Dealers who see you making progress on piles usually won’t rush you or give hard feelings if you only end up with a coin or two.  I bought six coins from this dealer this year at NYINC, and each one was perhaps the very best in that bag.

[esnible]

Back in 2014 a different dealer had small blue coins from Elymais.  I selected one coin.  I now wish I had chosen more.  I picked it because I liked the way the reverse had been cleaned to reveal the inscription.

Orodes III, circa 100-200 AD, unknown mint, AE11 drachm, 3.47g
Obv: bust left, with long beard and wearing diademed tiara ornamented with anchor; to right, star within crescent above anchor with one bar
Rev: VPWΔHC ΒΑCΙΛΕVC; bust of Artemis right wearing kalathos
Sear Greek Imperial Coins 5892, van Haaff 16.1

[Stkp]

That is a very nice one, indeed! Stkp

[ThatParthianGuy]

I think your coin would more properly be attributed as a van’t Haaff 9.1.1-7 rather than 9.1.1-4.  Reason: While the description you provides suggests that the date is on flan and visible (ΖΞΣ = 267 SE = 46/5 BC), it seems to me that it is off flan.  If ΖΞΣ were indeed visible, it would be a 1-4.  However, with no date visible, I would call it a 1-7, which is reserved for Kamnaskires V tets in which, like this example, the date (in exergue on the reverse) is either “obscured or off flan” (van't Haaff).  There are a couple of marks along the edge at 6:00 on the reverse, but I personally think it would be a stretch to call them the zeta-xi-sigma combo.  Just my two cents there.

Thanks, Bob! I'm not very familiar with the references for Elymaeans, so you're definitely right about digging deeper! That should be a fun weekend activity. Thanks for the correction of the van't Haaff citation. Sunrise 481 was also listed in the references and was described as "same." I looked in my copy of the book, but said coin actually has totally different dies and was struck a different year. I'll try to find a die match soon.