The Sellwood 10 series spans the reigns of Phraates I and early Mithridates I — a period when the Parthians were still consolidating control over the Iranian plateau after breaking from the Seleucid sphere. Mithridates I would go on to seize Media around 148 BC and Mesopotamia by 141 BC, transforming a regional kingdom into a genuine empire, but the drachms struck in his early reign predate that expansion entirely.
Sunrise 255 specimens tend to appear with sharper die work than later issues in the Sellwood 10 sequence, likely reflecting early production before die deterioration set in at the Hecatompylos or Mithradatkart workshops.
The Sellwood 10 series spans the reigns of Phraates I and early Mithridates I — a period when the Parthians were still consolidating control over the Iranian plateau after breaking from the Seleucid sphere. Mithridates I would go on to seize Media around 148 BC and Mesopotamia by 141 BC, transforming a regional kingdom into a genuine empire, but the drachms struck in his early reign predate that expansion entirely.
Sunrise 255 specimens tend to appear with sharper die work than later issues in the Sellwood 10 sequence, likely reflecting early production before die deterioration set in at the Hecatompylos or Mithradatkart workshops.