Vardanes I spent much of his reign fighting his own brother Gotarzes II for the Parthian throne, a civil war that drew in Armenian factions and eventually Roman diplomatic intervention under Claudius. The struggle was unresolved at his death — likely assassination — around 47 AD, which brackets precisely the window this coin was struck.
Sellwood 64 is a notoriously broad grouping, and specimens assigned to the later sub-types within it show progressive die degradation consistent with a mint under political strain.
Vardanes I spent much of his reign fighting his own brother Gotarzes II for the Parthian throne, a civil war that drew in Armenian factions and eventually Roman diplomatic intervention under Claudius. The struggle was unresolved at his death — likely assassination — around 47 AD, which brackets precisely the window this coin was struck.
Sellwood 64 is a notoriously broad grouping, and specimens assigned to the later sub-types within it show progressive die degradation consistent with a mint under political strain.