ARMENIA. Artaxata (?). Octachalkon (Bronze, 21 mm, 10.58 g, 1 h), circa mid 1st century BC. Turreted and draped bust of the city-goddess to right. Rev. A[PT?]A[...] Five-pointed Armenian tiara to left. Kovacs -. Unpublished and unique. A fascinating and highly important issue. Very fine.


Given that all previously known civic Armenian issues avoid Royal types, the emergence of a coin showing an Armenian tiara is both surprising and exciting. Unfortunately, the legend on the reverse is incomplete: we can only read A[..]A..., which perhaps stands for Artagigarta or Artaxata. However, as all the known civic coins from Artagigarta carry the city name in the form of a monogram, it is much more likely that the present coin was issued by the city of Artaxata, perhaps in the early 50s BC, like Kovacs 213-217. On the other hand, it has to be pointed out that the Armenian tiara on the reverse resembles the very rare Royal issue of Artaxias III-Zeno (18-35 AD) with Tiberius (Kovacs 189), but the rather crude flan and style do speak against such a late dating.