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View: Obverse
Tetradrachm of Kingdom of Parthia with bust of Mithradates II
Greek
Hellenistic Period
123–88 B.C.
Mint: Parthia (Kingdom), Seleukeia-on-the-Tigris (Babylonia)
Medium/Technique
Silver
Dimensions
Diameter: 31 mm. Weight: 16.01 gm.
Credit Line
Anonymous gift in memory of Zoë Wilbour (1864–1885)
Accession Number47.1013
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsNumismatics – Coins
Catalogue Raisonné
Brett, Greek Coins (MFA), no. 2344.
DescriptionObverse: Bust of Mithradates II, left, bearded; wears diadem, spiral necklace with terminal ornament, earring, and tunic.
Border of dots.
Reverse: Arsakes I, beardless, seated right on omphalos, looking along the string of a bow held in outstretched right hand; he has a Scythian bonnet with long flaps and a diadem with tie-ends. He wears armor, a short cloak, and boots with projecting tie-ends.
In field right, palm branch.
Monogram in field at left.
Inscriptions to left, upwards, above, to right, downwards and beneath
Border of dots.
Reverse: Arsakes I, beardless, seated right on omphalos, looking along the string of a bow held in outstretched right hand; he has a Scythian bonnet with long flaps and a diadem with tie-ends. He wears armor, a short cloak, and boots with projecting tie-ends.
In field right, palm branch.
Monogram in field at left.
Inscriptions to left, upwards, above, to right, downwards and beneath
ProvenanceBy date unknown between 1905 and 1935: Ernst Herzfeld Collection; by 1947: with Edward Gans, Numismatic Fine Arts, 101 West 55th Street, New York 19, N.Y. (Mail Bid Sale, No. 3, March 25, 1947, lot 76: said to have been found by peasants working on the fields); purchased by MFA as an anonymous gift in memory of Zoë Wilbour (1864-1885), April 10, 1947, for $ 450.00 (this is the total price for MFA 47.1013-47.1015)