Heritage World Coin Auctions
ANA Signature Sale 3048 11 August 2016
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SASANIAN KINGDOM. Shapur I the Great (AD 240-272). AV dinar (23mm, 7.25 gm, 3h). Mint I ("Ctesiphon"), Phase II, circa AD 260-272. Bust of Shapur right, wearing mural tiara with korymbos and long ear flap, large floriate brooch on left shoulder / Large flaming fire altar flanked by two attendants, both wearing mural crowns and holding scepters. Sunrise 739. SNS type IIc/1b, Style P. Göbl type I/1. Reverse legend partially effaced (deliberately, in die?). Choice About Uncirculated. In AD 253 Shapur captured and sacked Antioch, the third city of the Roman Empire, forcing the newly installed Emperor Valerian to move east and confront the rampant Persians. Shapur drew the Roman army into a perfect trap and captured Valerian and his entourage alive, the greatest feat of arms yet by a Sasanian monarch and the worst humiliation ever suffered by a Roman emperor. A famous rock-carved relief in Naqsh-e Rustam shows Shapur seizing Valerian by the arm while another Roman Emperor (Philip) kneels before him in supplication. His military exploits greatly enriched the treasury; his gold coinage was likely struck from bullion "liberated" from the Romans, with each dinar is roughly the weight of a Roman aureus of the second century AD and certainly more impressive than the shrunken contemporary Roman aurei.
Estimate: 6000-7500 USD
SASANIAN KINGDOM. Shapur I the Great (AD 240-272). AV dinar (23mm, 7.25 gm, 3h). Mint I ("Ctesiphon"), Phase II, circa AD 260-272. Bust of Shapur right, wearing mural tiara with korymbos and long ear flap, large floriate brooch on left shoulder / Large flaming fire altar flanked by two attendants, both wearing mural crowns and holding scepters. Sunrise 739. SNS type IIc/1b, Style P. Göbl type I/1. Reverse legend partially effaced (deliberately, in die?). Choice About Uncirculated. In AD 253 Shapur captured and sacked Antioch, the third city of the Roman Empire, forcing the newly installed Emperor Valerian to move east and confront the rampant Persians. Shapur drew the Roman army into a perfect trap and captured Valerian and his entourage alive, the greatest feat of arms yet by a Sasanian monarch and the worst humiliation ever suffered by a Roman emperor. A famous rock-carved relief in Naqsh-e Rustam shows Shapur seizing Valerian by the arm while another Roman Emperor (Philip) kneels before him in supplication. His military exploits greatly enriched the treasury; his gold coinage was likely struck from bullion "liberated" from the Romans, with each dinar is roughly the weight of a Roman aureus of the second century AD and certainly more impressive than the shrunken contemporary Roman aurei.
Estimate: 6000-7500 USD