★ Tigranes IV, Erato and Mount Ararat ★

KINGS OF ARMENIA. Tigranes IV (Restored) and Erato, 2 BC-AD 1. Dichalkon (Bronze, 19 mm, 5.23 g, 12 h), Artaxata. Jugate busts of Tigranes IV, wearing diademed Armenian tiara, and Erato to right. Rev. [ΦΙΛΟΚΑΙCΑΡ] The twin peaks of Mount Ararat, as seen from Artaxata. Bedoukian, Coinage, 128 ('Tigranes II?'). F. Kovacs: Tigranes IV, V, and VI: New Attributions, in: AJN 20 (2008), p. 337-350. Nercessian CA 122 ('Tigranes II'). Extremely rare. Some corrosion on the obverse and with minor cleaning scratches on the reverse, otherwise, fine.

Frank Kovacs has recently reattributed this remarkable type to the joint rule of Tigranes IV and his famous sister-wife and queen Erato. Virtually all of the few surviving examples of this issue are heavily worn and have the face of Erato and the peaks of the Ararat mostly obscured - this example, battered as it might seem, is actually among the nicest examples to appear on the market in recent years!