Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 1449. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $6250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

TRAJAN. 98-117 AD. Æ Sestertius (27.58 g, 6h). Struck 116-117 AD. IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GER DAC PARTHICO P M TR P COS VI P P, laureate and draped bust right / REX PARTHIS DATVS, S C in exergue, Trajan seated left on camp bench set on daïs, placing diadem on the head of king Parthamaspates who stands before him; on left, Parthia kneeling right in supplication; prefect standing left behind Trajan. RIC II 667; Banti 96; BMCRE 1045; Cohen 328. Good VF, green patina with a few patches of brown, patina retouched in a couple places. Boldly struck and well centered. ($3000)

Parthian interference in Armenia prompted Trajan to declare war against their king, Osroes I, in 114 AD. He quickly re-established Roman control of Armenia, forced the submission of Osrhoene, and in 116 AD took Mesopotamia by defeating Osroes I. Rather than pursuing the Parthians into Iran, Trajan set up a pro-Roman Parthian "buffer state" in Mesopotamia under a puppet-king appointed by Trajan, Parthamaspates. This event that is commemorated on this issue.