Parthians and Sasanians refined silver to mint coins, and to make luxury utensils and decorations popular within royal and wealthy families. Most silver used in Persia was extracted from galena and cerrusite mines. These ores were refined for silver during which other metals such as lead were extracted. Some of these matrix elements remained in the refined silver. In this article we compare the concentrations of lead in select coins in order to better understand the technology of extraction and to identify the sources of the silver used during both dynasties.