A show-and-tell here. I recently won my version of the Holy Grail coin. I've been seeking this one for years. It's a type that doesn't hit the market often and, when it does, competition is fierce.
At first glance the coin below might appear to simply be a nice, but unspectacular, 3rd-2nd century BC Seleucid tetradrachm with the usual Apollo-seated-on-omphalos reverse iconography. However, you may note that the reverse-left lettering doesn't spell out any of the Seleucid names you might expect to see, such as ANTIOXOY, ΔHMHTPIOY (Demetrios), or ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ (Alexander, for Alexander I Balas).
Instead, the king's name here starts with
KAMN. (The full Greek name that appears is KAMNIΣKIPOY and at the bottom is NIKH for NIKHΦOPOY - the victorious.) This rare coin is actually a very early issue of Elymais. It was minted at Susa and is attributed to
Kamnaskires II Nikephoros. As you can see, the earliest coinage of Elymais borrowed its iconography from the Seleucids - and, for a time during the late second century BC, control of Susa vacillated between the Seleucids, Elymaeans, and Parthians. I suspect that some (most?) of the die engravers and other mint workers in Susa may have stayed on while governmental control became a revolving door.
Although Kamnaskires II Nikephoros is usually recognized to have been the second king of Elymais, some scholars (Assar and Hansman) believe that there was actually no predecessor - that there was no king of Elymais before him. They believe that the king Kamnaskires I Soter, who many recognize as an earlier (and the first) ruler of Elymais, was in fact the same individual as Kamnaskires II Nikephoros rather than, as some believe, his father. This is similar to the speculation that the Indo-Scythian kings we call Azes I and II may have actually been a single person.
Regarding the coin's "issues": It's nearly impossible to obtain an early Elymaean tetradrachm that doesn't have at least some preservation problems and/or signs of smoothing or outright tooling. These things are extremely common with AR issues from early in the series. CNG's listing for this coin mentioned "minor obverse smoothing," which is undoubtedly correct. But, with the coin now in hand, and now seeing it under magnification, I can add that there seems to have been some sort of filler applied in parts, prior to that obverse smoothing. So, sadly, the coin comes with evidence of "work" being done in some areas. However, the majority of the devices seems untouched - and the die engraving was impressive. Given the extreme rarity of the coin, as well as the artistry that still shines through, I'm happy to have it despite the problems.
Kamnaskires II Nikephoros
c. 147-139 BC
AR Tetradrachm (27mm, 15.31 g, 1h)
van't Haaff Type 2.1.1-2b; Alram 431
Posted 10/03/2024 9:16 pm
