Fontanille Coins
Auction 84 7 April 2016
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Alexander III, Phoenician tetradrachm struck ca. 325 B.C.E. in Arados (Price 3332 - Muller 1370) 16.76 g.
An interesting lifetime issue of Alexander III with a graffito. The coins with an paleo-Hebrew or Aramaic graffito are exceedingly rare. This one shows a letter Yod on the reverse (enlargement), which was probably the first letter of the owner's name. A close examination under a microscope shows that the inner area of this graffito bears the same original patina as the rest of the coin, confirming its genuineness.
In 2007, I was lucky to find another paleo-Hebrew graffito, an Aleph, cut on a rare Yehud Ptolemaic coin type GBC 1082 in a famous private collection (see illustration at bottom). This Yehud was struck some 50 years after the Alexander III offered here, it is not impossible that cutting a personal mark on coins was a relatively common practice at that time.
Est. 1,500-2,000
An interesting lifetime issue of Alexander III with a graffito. The coins with an paleo-Hebrew or Aramaic graffito are exceedingly rare. This one shows a letter Yod on the reverse (enlargement), which was probably the first letter of the owner's name. A close examination under a microscope shows that the inner area of this graffito bears the same original patina as the rest of the coin, confirming its genuineness.
In 2007, I was lucky to find another paleo-Hebrew graffito, an Aleph, cut on a rare Yehud Ptolemaic coin type GBC 1082 in a famous private collection (see illustration at bottom). This Yehud was struck some 50 years after the Alexander III offered here, it is not impossible that cutting a personal mark on coins was a relatively common practice at that time.
Est. 1,500-2,000