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Home ▸ Catalog ▸ |Greek Coins| ▸ |Geographic - All Periods| ▸ |Armenia||View Options:  |  |  | 

Ancient Coins of Armenia

Historic Armenia, at the crossroads of the three continents, is a land of snow-clad mountains and deep valleys. Like most mountainous countries, Armenia was destined to be a poor land whose inhabitants survived solely through their courage. It was not until the twentieth century that history of Armenia was subjected to serious study. Until quite recently very little material was available for research or collecting.

Armenian Kingdom, Queen Erato, Sole Reign, c. 13 - 15 A.D.

|Armenian| |Kingdom|, |Armenian| |Kingdom,| |Queen| |Erato,| |Sole| |Reign,| |c.| |13| |-| |15| |A.D.||octachalkon|
This interesting issue was struck during the short sole reign of Queen Erato, the last of the Orontid line to rule Armenia. It is uncertain if 3rd regnal year on the reverse takes into account her earlier joint reign with her half-brother and husband Tigranes IV in 2 B.C. - 1 A.D. Erato's sole reign may have lasted as long as three years or perhaps less than one one year. In any case, the sole rule of a queen was a novum in Armenian history, as was the depiction of the city walls of Artaxata on a coin. We may presume that Erato, as a woman, felt especially pressured to boast military strength in her royal self-representation, leading her to radically change the Armenian numismatic iconography in a time of increasing Parthian pressure.
GB113378. Bronze octachalkon, Kovacs 187, Bedoukian CCA -; Nercessian ACV -; MDHRAC -, F, green patina, highlighting earthen deposits, scratches, weak legends not visible - as on most known specimens, weight 11.925 g, maximum diameter 23.2 mm, die axis 180o, Artaxata (Artashat, Armenia) mint, sole reign, c. 13 - 15 A.D.; obverse BA - EPAT, diademed and draped bust of Erato right; reverse aerial view of the city walls of Artaxata, in the shape of an octagon, with six tall round defense towers and two gateways, [E - G] (regnal year 3) above; extremely rare; $1350.00 (€1269.00)
 


Kingdom of Armenia Minor, Uncertain King, c. 2nd Century B.C.

|Armenian| |Kingdom|, |Kingdom| |of| |Armenia| |Minor,| |Uncertain| |King,| |c.| |2nd| |Century| |B.C.||AE| |12|
The legend on the reverse is blundered, probably Aramaic, though some have identified it as pseudo Greek. In any case, it is illegible on all of the, about a dozen, examples known to FORVM. Without a legible inscription, the king and his queen are unidentified and likely to remain so.
GB98190. Bronze AE 12, Unpublished, Kovacs -, et al. -, VF, dark patina, well centered, uneven strike with bottom weak on both sides, weight 1.067 g, maximum diameter 11.6 mm, die axis 0o, c. 2nd century B.C.; obverse head of Armenian king left, wearing bashlyk tied with a diadem, uncertain Aramaic legend around; reverse draped bust of uncertain queen to right; about a dozen known to FORVM; $215.00 (€202.10)
 


Armenian Kingdom, Tigranes II the Great, 95 - 55 B.C.

|Armenian| |Kingdom|, |Armenian| |Kingdom,| |Tigranes| |II| |the| |Great,| |95| |-| |55| |B.C.||chalkous|
Tigranes was called "Tigranes the Great" by Plutarch. The "King of Kings" never appeared in public without having four kings attending him. At its height, Tigranes' empire extended from the Pontic Alps to Mesopotamia and from the Caspian to the Mediterranean. In 83 B.C., the Syrians offered him the crown and after conquering Phoenicia and Cilicia, he effectively ended the Seleucid Empire. His southern border reached as far as Akko-Ptolemais. The first Armenian ruler to issue coins, he adopted the Seleucid tradition and struck coins at Antioch and Damascus during his occupation of Syria from 83 to 69 B.C. In 66 B.C., Pompey advanced into Armenia with Tigranes' own son as an ally. Tigranes, now almost 75 years old, surrendered. Pompey treated him generously and returned part of his kingdom in return for 6,000 talents of silver. His unfaithful son was sent back to Rome as a prisoner. Tigranes continued to rule Armenia as an ally of Rome until his death in 55 B.C. In reference to the titulature on Tigranes II's coinage, Jack Nurpetlian in his paper, "Ancient Armenian Coins: the Artaxiad Dynasty (189 BC - AD 6)" in Berytus Archaeological Studies 51–52, writes: "The consensus is that the coins bearing the imperial title – BAΣIΛEΩΣ BAΣIΛEIΩN TIΓPANOY – are from mints located within Armenian lands, whereas the coins with the royal title – BAΣIΛEΩΣ TIΓPANOY – come from mints in newly acquired territories."
GY113387. Bronze chalkous, MDHRAC 24, Nercessian AC 51, Bedoukian CCA 92 (Nercessian and Bedoukian list as a tetrachalkon), VF/F, dark patina, earthen deposits, marks, weight 6.915 g, maximum diameter 21.3 mm, die axis 0o, 70 - 66 B.C.; obverse bust right wearing five-pointed Armenian tiara ornamented with star between two eagles, top extends outside of dotted circle; reverse Tyche seated right on rocks, turreted, holding palm frond in right, half-length figure of river-god Orontes swimming right at her feet below, BAΣIΛEΩΣ downward on right, BAΣIΛEIΩN / TIΓPANOY downward in two lines left, no letters or monograms in fields; $110.00 (€103.40)
 


Kingdom (or Satrapy) of Armenia Minor, Mithradates, c. 3rd - 2nd Century B.C.

|Armenia|, |Kingdom| |(or| |Satrapy)| |of| |Armenia| |Minor,| |Mithradates,| |c.| |3rd| |-| |2nd| |Century| |B.C.||chalkous|
For numismatists, it has been very tricky assigning coins to Armenia Minor (also known as Lesser Armenia or Armenia Inferior), the coastal region of ancient Armenia west and north of the head waters of the Euphrates river. Its regularly shifting borders were not well understood even by ancient writers and even its name (as opposed to the better known Kingdom of Armenia Major) did not come into use until around the time of Julius Caesar. For some of the difficulties in piecing together Armenia Minor's fragmentary history, see "The Satrapy of Western Armenia in the Mithridatid Kingdom" by Luis Ballesteros Pastor in Mobility in Research on the Black Sea Region (Cluj-Napoca, 2016), edited by Victor Cojocaru and Alexander Rubel. Since the printing of Frank Kovacs' magnum opus, Armenian Coinage in the Classical Period (Lancaster/London, 2016), the researcher personally stated to this cataloger in January 2024 that "the attribution of the early Mithradates coins seems more likely to be Armenia Minor, but coin finds suggest that the border between Armenia Minor and Sophene at this period was fluid." The exact identity of the Mithradates in question remains just that, an open question with several candidates. That said, in Kovacs' online corrigenda for ACCP (current as of July 2023), he is now inclined to believe that Mithradates precedes the equally mysterious Arkathias I (who is connected to Mithradates via die links and countermark evidence). Kovacs aims to thoroughly update his Armenian coin catalog with a second edition of ACCP in the not so distant future.
GB113717. Bronze chalkous, Kovacs 29 corr. (Mithradates I of Sophene), Nercessian ACV -, Bedoukian CCA -, F, dark patina, weight 2.016 g, maximum diameter 11.8 mm, die axis 180o, Uncertain mint, c. 3rd - 2nd century B.C.; obverse draped and bearded bust of Mithradates to left, in bashlyk tied with diadem; reverse bashlyk with curved top; ex Leu Numismatik web auction 25 (11 Mar 2023), lot 996; ex Leu Numismatik web auction 17 (14 Aug 2021), lot 1285; rare; $90.00 (€84.60)
 


Armenian Kingdom, Tigranes II the Great, 95 - 55 B.C.

|Armenia|, |Armenian| |Kingdom,| |Tigranes| |II| |the| |Great,| |95| |-| |55| |B.C.||chalkous|
Tigranes was called "Tigranes the Great" by Plutarch. The "King of Kings" never appeared in public without having four kings attending him. At its height, Tigranes' empire extended from the Pontic Alps to Mesopotamia and from the Caspian to the Mediterranean. In 83 B.C., the Syrians offered him the crown and after conquering Phoenicia and Cilicia, he effectively ended the Seleucid Empire. His southern border reached as far as Akko-Ptolemais. The first Armenian ruler to issue coins, he adopted the Seleucid tradition and struck coins at Antioch and Damascus during his occupation of Syria from 83 to 69 B.C. In 66 B.C., Pompey advanced into Armenia with Tigranes' own son as an ally. Tigranes, now almost 75 years old, surrendered. Pompey treated him generously and returned part of his kingdom in return for 6,000 talents of silver. His unfaithful son was sent back to Rome as a prisoner. Tigranes continued to rule Armenia as an ally of Rome until his death in 55 B.C.
SH71010. Bronze chalkous, Nercessian AC 51, Bedoukian CCA 92, MDHRAC 24 (Nercessian and Bedoukian list as a tetrachalkon), VF, nice green patina, overstruck (commonly on a coin of Arados), weight 6.568 g, maximum diameter 21.3 mm, die axis 0o, Antioch (Antakya, Turkey) mint, c. 70 - 66 B.C.; obverse bust right wearing Armenian tiara, five-pointed tiara ornamented with star between two eagles, top extends outside of dot circle; reverse BAΣIΛEΩΣ - BAΣIΛEIΩN / TIΓPANOY, Tyche seated right on rocks, turreted, holding palm frond in right, half-length figure of river-god Orontes swimming right at her feet below, no letters or monograms in fields; SOLD


Kingdom of Commagene, Julia Iotape, 38 - 72 A.D.

|Armenia|, |Kingdom| |of| |Commagene,| |Julia| |Iotape,| |38| |-| |72| |A.D.||AE| |26|
Iotape was the daughter of Antiochus III and Iotapa, the king and queen of Commagene. Her parents were full-blooded siblings and direct descendants of the Seleucid kings. Iotapa and her brother Antiochus IV were very young when their father died in 17 A.D. Tiberius agreed with the citizens of Commagene to make their Kingdom a part of the Roman province of Syria. From 17 until 38, Iotapa and her brother were raised in Rome, members of the remarkable court of Antonia Minor. Antonia Minor was a niece of Augustus and the youngest daughter of Mark Antony. She was very influential and supervised her circle of various princes and princesses, assisting in the political preservation of the Empire’s borders, and the affairs of client states. In 38, Caligula returned Antiochus IV and Iotape to the throne of Commagene. In addition, Caligula enlarged their territory with a part of Cilicia bordering on the seacoast and gave them one million gold pieces, the total amount of revenue collected from Commagene during the twenty years that it had been under Syria. The reason for his extraordinary generosity is unknown. Perhaps it was just a stroke of Caligula's well-attested eccentricity. Iotapa and Antiochus IV married and had three children. Iotapa died before Commagene was annexed by Vespasian in 72. When she died, Antiochus IV founded a town called Iotapa in her honor (modern Aytap, Turkey).
GB84499. Bronze AE 26, Lindgren-Kovacs 1887 (same countermark); RPC I 3858; BMC Galatia p. 109, 4; Nercessian AC -; SNG Cop VII 5; countermark: Howgego 403 (after 69 A.D.), VF, straight edge flan, weight 15.289 g, maximum diameter 25.8 mm, die axis 0o, Samosata (site now flooded by the Atatürk Dam) mint, 66 - 72 B.C.; obverse BAΣIΛIΣΣA IΩTAΠH ΦIΛAΔEΛΦOΣ (of Queen Iotape Philadelphus), diademed and draped bust of Iotape to right, countermark: crossed cornucopias; reverse KOMMAΓ-HNΩN, scorpion and inscription all within laurel wreath; from the Dr. Sam Mansourati Collection; scarce; SOLD







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REFERENCES

Babelon, E. Les Rois de Syrie, d'Arménie, et de Commagène, Catlogue de monnaies grecques de la Bibliothèque Nacionale. (Paris, 1890).
Langlois, V. Numismatique de l'Arménie. (Paris, 1859).
Bedoukian, P. "Coinage of the Armenian Kingdoms of Sophene and Commagene" in ANSMN 28 (New York, 1983).
Bedoukian, P. Coinage of the Artaxiads of Armenia. RNS Special Publication Number 10. (London, 1978).
Gardner, P. Catalogue of Greek Coins in the British Museum, The Seleucid Kings of Syria. (Forni reprint, 1963).
Kovacs, F. "Additions and corrections to Armenian coins and their values" in Armenian Numismatic Journal 30/3 (2004).
Kovacs, F. Armenian Coinage in the Classical Period. CNS 10. (Lancaster, PA, 2016).
Kovacs, F. "Tigranes IV, V, and VI: New Attributions" in AJN 20 (2008).
Mousheghian, A. & G. Depeyrot. Hellenistic and Roman Armenian Coinage (1st c. BC - 1st c. AD). Moneta 15. (Wettern, 1999).
Mousheghian, K., et al. History and Coin Finds in Armenia: Coins from Duin, Capital of Armenia. Moneta 18. (Wetteren, 2000).
Nercessian, Y. Armenian Coins and Their Values. Armenian Numismatic Society, Special Publication No. 8. (Los Angeles, 1995).
Nercessian, Y. "Coinage of the Armenian Kingdom of Sophene (ca. 260-70 B.C.)" in Armenian Numismatic Journal 37.3 (Sep 2011).
Nercessian, Y. Silver Coinage of the Artaxiad Dynasty of Armenia. (Los Angeles, 2006).
Nercessian, Y. "Silver Coins of Artavasdes II of Armenia" in Armenian Numismatic Journal 29-1 (March 2003).
Nercessian, Y. "Silver Coins of Tigranes II of Armenia" in Armenian Numismatic Journal 26-3 & 4. (December 2000).
Nercessian, Y. "Tigranes the Great of Armenia and the Mint of Damascus" in Armenian Numismatic Journal 22-1 (March 1996).
Vardanyan, R. "A Dated Copper Coin of Artaxias II: Evidence on the Use of the Pompeyan Era in Artaxata" in Armenian Numismatic Journal XXVII (2001).

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