KINGS of CHARACENE, Tiraios II, 79/78-49/48 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 30mm, 15.20 g 11), Charax-Spasinu, year 241 = 71/70 . Diademed and bearded head of Tiraios to right. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΤΙΡΑΙΟΥ / ΝΙΚ/ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ / ΚΑΙ ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΟΥ / ΑΜΣ Herakles seated to left, holding club on his knee. Cf. Le Rider 8-11 (year 240) and 12-13 (year 242), otherwise apparently unpublished. Nicely toned and with a noteworthy portrait struck on a broad flan. Good very fine.

From the Stoecklin Collection, bought from Bank Leu in Zürich in 1968.

The coinage of Tiraios II is remarkable for the extraordinarily ‘foreign’ nature of the portrait it bears: it is very distinctly non-Greek in style and conception. Equally interesting is that during years 240 and 241 (72/71 and 71/70) the die cutter who made the portrait dies was an individual of real ability: compared to the later portrait dies the one used here is remarkable for its character and quality.