This early work1 on Parthian coins contains an outline of Parthian history based on the now obsolete chronology used by George Rawlinson in The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy (1873). In addition to a discussion of monetary standards, it traces development and types of coinage used by each of the Parthian rulers. It is a useful numismatic handbook due to the illustrations, most from the Prokesch-Osten collection and many of which later found their way into the British Museum collection.
In his 1903 catalog of the British Museum collection, Wroth2 declared "Mr. Gardner's work is distinguished from the publications of his illustrious predecessors by the excellence of its plates and its clearness of arrangement, and is also valuable for the sober judgment brought to bear upon the numismatic evidence, which, unfortunately, is seldom of a very satisfactory and decisive kind."
While Wroth revised Gardner's chronology and attributions, his assessment of the plates in Gardner's original edition remains accurate. The plates are, in fact, of such high quality that they are presented here with links to an enlargement of each coin. The plates in the reprint of 1968 are useful, but not of the same high quality as the original edition.
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Notes:
1. Gardner, Percy. The Parthian coinage (with eight
plates) in Numismata Orientalia (London: Trubner & Co., 1877)
2. Wroth, Warwick. Catalogue of the Coins of Parthia
in A Catalogue Of Greek Coins in the British Museum. (London: The British
Museum, 1903), p. xiv.
Click on the desired page illustration for an enlargement:
This page last updated 23 Feb 2021
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