It's a fascinating coin that gave me pause when I first spotted it at
auction. On November 12th I started a
thread at Parthia-L about it. Here are excerpts from that post:
"(The seller) has the coin listed as '
Cf. van’t Haaff
type 12.3' – a variant of a Kamnaskires-Orodes AE
drachm. There are two documented
reverse types associated with the drachms of Kamnaskires-Orodes. One, VH
type 12.2, features a small facing
bust of Belos, with large hair tufts on each
side, surrounded by an Aramaic
legend. The other, VH
type 12.3, displays a pattern of dashes/lines. Sometimes the dashes/lines are randomly placed, but sometimes they are arranged in an orderly (i.e. parallel) fashion.
The
reverse iconography of the (seller's) coin is not only different, it is wildly unexpected for an Elymaean
drachm. It features a crude
cross surrounded by either cropped pellets or
legend. My first thought when I spotted the coin in the
auction was that the
reverse would be more at
home on an AE of the
Vandals,
Visigoths, or such. It is so unexpected.
Another oddity includes the appearance of the
obverse anchor, parts of which seem to be missing in action. I suppose this could be due to a clogged die – but I’ve not seen anything quite like this one.
(...)
I know (the seller) has great numismatists on staff who
vet all material before listing. The coin passed muster, obviously. And, of course, anyone who handles a lot of Elymaeans is used to all sorts of weirdness popping up from time to time. But this one is weird to the extreme.
I'm curious if anyone has seen an Elymaean
drachm with the same or similar
reverse die."
In the replies my post received, Parthia-L
members felt the coin was authentic and that, while the
reverse is admittedly odd, such things are
part and parcel of Elymaean coinage. I
had also expressed, in my post [in the "(...)"
part above], some concerns I
had about the appearance of the coin's edge, as seen in the photo Virgil provides here. But, as another member pointed out, a second photo that the seller provided with the listing (a photo I
had not noticed when I initially spotted the coin in the
auction) made it clear that the edge is okay. Apparently, it is the lighting and reflection that gives it the suspicious look we see in the photo here - as if halves have been mounted together.