Sidon or Samarian imitation? A Phoenician 1/16th Shekel

[Imago_Argentum_24]

Hello everyone, I am new to numisforum and keen to learn more about ancient coins. 

So far I have bought Greek silver coins from multiple dealers. Recently I participated in an auction for the first time and bought this lovely silver 1/16 shekel:

The auction house offered the following description:
Greek, Samaria AR Obol. c. 375-333. Galley l., over waves / Persian king battling lion; O between; all within incuse square. Reference: Condition: Very Fine

Weight: 0.62 gr. Diameter: 9.4 mm

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However after reading more about these type of coins I learned the following information: 
The designs were minted at the Phoenician city of Sidon. Based on the Phoenician letter '𐤏' or 'Ayin' on the reverse, between the King and lion in combat, it would have been minted during the reign of King Ba`alšillem II. This king would put his son's initial '𐤏' on the reverse and his own initial '𐤁' or 'Beth' on the obverse. Earlier and later kings did have different letters on the reverse. The coins minted at Sidon would thus be dated at 401-365 BC. 

Since, based on reading, multiple Persian designs were copied in Samaria during that time. Would someone, with much more experience than me😅, know if this coin was minted at Sidon or at Samaria as a nice contemporary imitation? Or even whether identifying differences would be possible at all.

Thanks in advance everyone! 

[Robi]

Hi, your coin is from Sidon.

Here You have some Samarian coins with similar iconography from Mati Johananoff. From Sidon to Samaria: 
Fourth-Century BCE Autonomous Coins of Samaria with Sidonian Motifs.

Greetings,

Robert Kharitonov

[Imago_Argentum_24]

5 minutes ago, Robi said:

Hi, your coin is from Sidon.

Here You have some Samarian coins with similar iconography from Mati Johananoff. From Sidon to Samaria: 
Fourth-Century BCE Autonomous Coins of Samaria with Sidonian Motifs.

Greetings,

Robert Kharitonov

@Robi Thank you so much for your quick response and information! Awesome to know that it was indeed minted in Sidon! The auction house was limited with quite a bit of coins so that made the "Samaria" possibility questionable to me. 

 

[kirispupis]

FWIW I have a very similar coin, also attributed to Samaria.

Samaria ‘Middle Levantine’ Series. Circa 375-333 BCE
AR Obol 9.7mm 0.65g
Phoenician galley left (‘b’ in Phoenician) above, waves below.
R: Persian king or hero, holding dagger in his right hand, standing right, grasping lion standing right, head to left, at mane; in field, O; all within incuse square.
Meshorer & Qedar 199

I don’t have my copy of MQ that discusses these coins, so I can’t say for sure. In the case of mine, I’ve long suspected it as a fake but I haven’t spent much time investigating it.

[Robi]

@kirispupis @Imago_Argentum_24

I will try to explain it as I understand it. The motif of the king fighting a beast(lion?) was often imitated in Samaria. Such imitations were in local circulation, along with the 1/16 shekel from Sidon.

One sure indicator of the Samaria mint of such imitations is the legend above the galley or between the king and the lion and some samarian iconographic symbols. The rest of the imitations are of uncertain origin (Samaria incerta). P. Wyssmann also mentions this and we can also find such types in the incerta category in Jeselsohn's collection. Most often, coins with only the "o" between the king and the lion come from Sidon. If there is no visible letter/letters above the galley in such cases, it is difficult to decide for sure - then it is worth paying attention to the shape and size of the boat.
@kirispupis In the case of MQ 199, the galley is visibly smaller (the reverse is made of a hemiobol and the obverse is an obol) and Meshorer and Qedar defined this type as a hemiobol (it weighs approximately 0.4 g).

It seems that sellers sometimes on purpose, and sometimes out of ignorance or taking advantage of uncertainty, sometimes assign such coins to Samaria - due to greater demand.

@kirispupis @Imago_Argentum_24

Having no other epigraphic or iconographic evidence, judging only by the shape of the boat, I presume that your coins come from Sidon. And I think that in such cases it should be done without having any basis for determining the mint of Samaria.

Fisrt screen - types with legend from Samaria (MQ - Samarian Coinage)

Second: List of incerta Smarian (Wyssman)

Third and fourth: Incerta from Jeselsohn collection

And screen MQ199

Greetings, Robert

Edited January 2 by Robi

[kirispupis]

6 hours ago, Robi said:

One sure indicator of the Samaria mint of such imitations is the legend above the galley or between the king and the lion and some samarian iconographic symbols. The rest of the imitations are of uncertain origin (Samaria incerta). P. Wyssmann also mentions this and we can also find such types in the incerta category in Jeselsohn's collection. Most often, coins with only the "o" between the king and the lion come from Sidon. If there is no visible letter/letters above the galley in such cases, it is difficult to decide for sure - then it is worth paying attention to the shape and size of the boat.
@kirispupis In the case of MQ 199, the galley is visibly smaller (the reverse is made of a hemiobol and the obverse is an obol) and Meshorer and Qedar defined this type as a hemiobol (it weighs approximately 0.4 g).

 

 

Thanks! The attribution of Sidon is one I've long suspected and I purchased this coin before I understood the coinage better after purchasing MQ. I've since added other Samarian coins but I'll need to switch this one to Sidon.

One thing I've long wondered about my coin though is it seems to be either a fouree or simply a fake. I grew suspicious after seeing the (VCoins) seller list many more examples of this type after I purchased mine and it doesn't quite "look" right. It was too cheap to bother sending back for a refund.

[Sulla80]

Thanks for the info - it looks like I can reclassify this coin.

[Imago_Argentum_24]

8 hours ago, Robi said:

It seems that sellers sometimes on purpose, and sometimes out of ignorance or taking advantage of uncertainty, sometimes assign such coins to Samaria - due to greater demand.

 

I read somewhere, in a summary of the Samairan MQ book, that the whole point of the book was preventing Samarian coins from being indentified as Sidon. As so many of these coins online are immediatly mispresented as Samarian instead it has become some sort of irony😅.

That information you provided is just wonderful, thank you! Since Sidon was primarely minting these designs, while Samaria made these is along with other variation with designs. Would you think that there would have been more Sidionian than Samarian versions? And if so, would that also reflect the availibility on the market?
Now finding a nice deal for a Samarian version will be on my wishlist to add to the story of the coinage😌.

Also, I came across this Blog: SIDON | Coins Of The Southern Levant , mentioning the worn clothing as depicted on the coin. The 'Kidaris' hat with long side flaps, which is similar to the 'Phrygian' cap, as well as the 'Kandys' which was a coat.  Source on clothing: Ηats of the Ancient Near East .

Kidaris worn with flaps twisted around the head.
 

 

[Robi]

@kirispupis I think your coin is authentic, nice dark patina. It seems from the photo that it is not a fourree, it only has delaminations in the upper layer of silver (but i can made mistake). This is the most popular type with such motif, so it does not seem strange if the seller offers other 1/16 Sidonian shekels.

[Robi]

@Imago_Argentum_24 

Coins of this type of Sidonian origin are more popular due to their high mintage. From what I once read (probably from H. Gitler and O. Tal?), the finds suggest that Samaria minted relatively small mintages of at least some types (Samarian coins were probably used only in the area of Samaria). I think that there are even more different types with this motif from Samaria than from Sidon, but coins from Samaria are certainly fewer and rarer in trade.

Robert

[Robi]

@kirispupis You have awesome collection of Samarian coins! Congratulation🏆

[Factor]

Here is mine, on the right. You can see the difference with Sidonian original on the left - the king and the lion switched places, and the letter is smaller.

[Imago_Argentum_24]

@Robi Today I received the Sidonian coin in my mailbox. It has a nice weight to it and the colour is just like a mirror. Definitely one of my favourites from now on.

@Factor Interesting that they started to mirror the obverse with the imitations. Do the coins have both a '𐤁' 'bēt' on the reverse above the galley?

Edited January 3 by Imago_Argentum_24

[Robi]

Mine humble couple of Samarian coins: MQ 130, MQ133, M.Johananoff, pl 1, 3 and... i fourth one - Samaria or Philistea (i forgot 😜 - must check)

Greetings