NEWP Men in Fancy Hats Series: Parthia

nicholasz219

So I have been a fan of the men with hats guys for a long time. I looked around and always found Parthian coins of meh quality and high prices for said quality. Finally, I came across a seller that I like doing business with who also had some fancy hats to look at.

This Artabanos II the Drachm is moderately off center on the obverse, but I like the strike and clean fields and the reverse is pretty clear and well struck in the center. For the price, I couldn't beat it, after months if not a year of looking. I hope to add some other rulers, in particular Mithridates and Orodes II off of the top of my head, but again, patience, young grasshopper.

These coins are like the Bactrian, Sassanian and Seleucids in that they really don't seem to have a lot of modern printed references or even netspace dedicated to them. Maybe I'm duh and not finding it. I love adding to my coin library and yet I haven't been able to really for these fields. The Parthians were a counterbalance to Rome from around 247BC to 228AD, having replaced the Seleucid inheritors of Alexander the Great's Empire.

STLNATS

Nice example of an Interesting coin.

These coins are like the Bactrian, Sassanian and Seleucids in that they really don't seem to have a lot of modern printed references or even netspace dedicated to them.

In terms of references, Parthia.com is an established and I think pretty reliable online reference. The Shore and Sellwood volumes are still widely used, altho a bit dated. There has been a fair amount of scholarly work on these; Parthian coins generally do not have personal names so a lot of work has been dedicated to validating or reassigning attributions. Much of this work is controversial and I think the Parthia.com site tends to reflect the current concensus.

For Bactria and Indo Greek, CNG and others have published a variety of titles fairly recently, notably by Kritt and Holt. I think CNG has a book list on their web site which should list a number of these. I use Bopearachchi which is a very good and easily used reference, altho in French, and was quite affordable when I bought it. The Mitchener (sp?) volumes are probably the standard for these altho not perhaps readily accessable.

I think CNG has a couple of recent titles on Selucid altho its not an area I'm familiar with.

Hope this gives you some leads if you're interested in building your library.

edited to add: CNG has an searchable archive of coins they've sold (under the tab research). Usually skewed to higher end material, of course, but sometimes it can be helpful to narrow down searches. I've had some luck with it.

I know they've got more but here's a few of CNG's current book listings:
books

Some books can be pretty expensive and I've had good success in using my local library's interlibrary loan service to preview an expensive book before deciding to buy it. Some I found well worth the money and some didn't meet the bar. My library also allows me to use ILL materials for 3 weeks so I can use the book even if I decide not to buy it.

TIF2

Men in Fancy Hats... a fine thing to collect!

trozau

I'm so fancy!

STLNATS

In thinking about the title of this thread, I note that the king here is wearing a diadem (defined as an ornamental headband worn as a badge of royalty) and not a hat per se. The vertical lines are hair and beard and the diagonal ones at the back of the head are ribbons from the diadem. However, the archer on the reverse, often id'd as Arsaces I, is wearing a bashlyk. Just a thought from the precisely pedantic puffin...

nicholasz219

STLNATS, well thanks for the guidance! I had seen the Sellwood book before, saw the average asking price ($100-300) and since I did not even own a Parthian coin yet, decided that that might be a bit much to invest in a book that might all be academic. Considering that my interest in the coins has not waned, it is more likely that I will buy the reference book but will wait until I can get a substantial discount through a lucky purchase. The CNG link was helpful because I typically do not go there to look for coins or much of anything. I am simply usually priced out of their wares. But now I will have to give it a second look. I did browse for editions of Sellwood and they are still prohibitively expensive but I saw some volumes (albeit just a few) on CNG that might be a splurge or inspiration to find secondhand.

I am still calling them hats.

STLNATS

YW.

I've got both a 2nd edition sellwood and a Shore (which a lot of folks like, but I find less useful) in my library but both are fairly expensive, a bit out of date, and frankly I generally use Parthia.com unless there's an esoteric detail I'm trying to nail down. Parthia and the IndoGreek series are both secondary interests, so I tend to me more casual in my research and attributions. BTW, neither book is particularly academic (as is some of the more recent stuff). In any case, waiting for a bargain is probably a perfectly good strategy for a while, amybe a long while.