SASANIAN KINGS. Shapur I, 240-272. Dinar (Gold, 22 mm, 7.34 g, 3 h), style R, unknown mint, circa AD 260-272. Diademed and draped bust of Shapur I to right, wearing mural crown with a great korymbos on top and long earflaps; long beard tied in the middle with two ribbons and thick tufts of curly hair at the back; two ribbons rising from behind head; two rows of pearls around the neck. The legend along the dotted rim, running anticlockwise from 11 h to 1 h, reads: ‘mzdysn bgy šhpwhry MRKAn MRKA ʾyrʾn MNW ctry MN yzdʾn’ = ‘mazdēsn bay Šābuhr šāhān šāh Ērān kē čihr az yaz(a)dān’ (‘The Mazda-worshipping Lord Shapur, King of Kings of the Iranians, whose essence is from the gods’ in Pahlavi). Rev. Zoroastrian fire altar flanked by two attendants wearing mural crowns and holding scepters; to right and left, ‘NWRA ZY – šhpwhry’ = ‘ādur ī Šābuhr’ (‘Fire of Shapur’ in Pahlavi); three pellets to the right of the altar shaft and one to the left; in upper left field, the symbol of ‘frawahr’, the guardian spirit of kingship and the emblem of the royal treasury. Göbl type I/1. SNS I, type IIc/1b. Minor doubling and roughness, otherwise, extremely fine.