Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXIII 24-25 Mar 2022
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Philistia (Palestine), uncertain mint AR Obol. Circa 450-333 BC. Bearded male head to right, lion atop head to right (as headdress), head reverted with open jaws, raising forepaw / Hybrid janiform head: bearded archaic male head to right and head facing; all within dotted square border within incuse square. Gitler & Tal XVI.24O; HGC 10, -. 0.61g, 10mm, 1h.
Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare; one example cited by Gitler & Tal, no others on CoinArchives and thus seemingly the second known example.
From the inventory of a UK dealer.
While the obverse of this coin is extremely rare, the reverse iconography appears to be part of a tradition in Philistian coins of including janiform heads of varying styles that were often not in the form that would be familiar to those accustomed to Classical janiform heads, where the two heads are mirrored in size and style with only subtle differences. The composition portrayed here, with one head in profile to right and the other, much smaller head facing is by no means the most unusual example cited by Gitler & Tal. A Philistian drachm, dating from the same period, shows the bearded archaic male head to the right as would be expected, but the second head is that of a highly stylised gorgoneion that is perpendicularly orientated (Gitler & Tal XIII.5D). Perhaps more unusual still, is a drachm where the right head of Athena in profile is in relief and the left head of a crowned, bearded man is incuse (Gitler & Tal XIV.36D).
Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare; one example cited by Gitler & Tal, no others on CoinArchives and thus seemingly the second known example.
From the inventory of a UK dealer.
While the obverse of this coin is extremely rare, the reverse iconography appears to be part of a tradition in Philistian coins of including janiform heads of varying styles that were often not in the form that would be familiar to those accustomed to Classical janiform heads, where the two heads are mirrored in size and style with only subtle differences. The composition portrayed here, with one head in profile to right and the other, much smaller head facing is by no means the most unusual example cited by Gitler & Tal. A Philistian drachm, dating from the same period, shows the bearded archaic male head to the right as would be expected, but the second head is that of a highly stylised gorgoneion that is perpendicularly orientated (Gitler & Tal XIII.5D). Perhaps more unusual still, is a drachm where the right head of Athena in profile is in relief and the left head of a crowned, bearded man is incuse (Gitler & Tal XIV.36D).