SASANIAN KINGS. Bahram II, with Queen and Prince 4, 276-293. Drachm (Silver, 28 mm, 4.33 g, 9 h). Jugate busts of Bahram II and his queen to right; Bahram II wearing a winged crown with a great korymbos on top; long beard with two rings and thick tufts of curly hair at the back; two ribbons rising from behind head; the queen wearing a headdress with boars’s head; facing a small bust to left, wearing a headdress with eagle’s head; legend along the dotted rim running anticlockwise from 11 h to 1 h, ‘mzdysn bgy wrhrʾn MRKAn MRKA ʾyrʾn W ʾnyrʾn MNW ctry MN yzdʾn’ = ‘mazdēsn bay Wahrām šāhān šāh Ērān ud Anērān kē čihr az yaz(a)dān’ (‘The Mazda-worshipping Lord, Bahram, King of Kings of the Iranians and Non-Iranians, whose essence is from the gods’ in Pahlavi). Rev. Fire altar flanked by two regal attendants holding scepters and wearing crowns; to right and left deteriorated legend, ‘NWRA ZY ˗ wrhrʾn’ = ‘ādur ī Wahrām’ (‘Fire of Bahram’ in Pahlavi); the so-called ‘symbol of the heir’ in the upper field to the left of the flames. Göbl type VII/1. SNS II, type VIa(1)/3(1b). Nicely toned. Areas of weakness and with some deposits, otherwise, good very fine.

From the Asha & Ardeshir Dabestani Collection, ex Classical Numismatic Group 103, 14 September 2016, 516.