Stephen Album Rare Coins
Auction 16 17-18 May 2013
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SASANIAN KINGDOM: Yazdigerd III, 632-651, AR drachm (3.64g), MY (Mishan), year 20, G-235, Tyler-Smith-163/164, attractive strike, VF, RRR.
Mishan, located in southern Iraq, had been conquered by the Arabs more than a decade before the regnal year 20 of Yazdigerd III (651 AD), and would not have officially struck Sasanian coins in that year. Thus this piece is either a local imiative issue, or the mint "MY" mint was no longer located at Mishan. The "Y" of the mint name is slightly curved to the lower right, and is conceivably a somewhat coarsely engraved "L" or "R". The letters "MR" applied to the city of Marw on both Sasanian and early Arab-Sasanian drachms (the latter dated YE20, 22 and 23). I would suggest that the actual mint was Marw, where the Arab armies captured and executed Yazdigerd in his 20th regnal year.
Estimate: 450-550 USD
Mishan, located in southern Iraq, had been conquered by the Arabs more than a decade before the regnal year 20 of Yazdigerd III (651 AD), and would not have officially struck Sasanian coins in that year. Thus this piece is either a local imiative issue, or the mint "MY" mint was no longer located at Mishan. The "Y" of the mint name is slightly curved to the lower right, and is conceivably a somewhat coarsely engraved "L" or "R". The letters "MR" applied to the city of Marw on both Sasanian and early Arab-Sasanian drachms (the latter dated YE20, 22 and 23). I would suggest that the actual mint was Marw, where the Arab armies captured and executed Yazdigerd in his 20th regnal year.
Estimate: 450-550 USD