PHILISTIA. Central Mint. Philistian-styled, circa 420-350 BCE. Rbʾ Šql = Drachm (Silver, 16 mm, 2.90 g, 2 h). Hybrid janiform head, with youthful male (?) head facing and bearded male head in profile to right; all within guilloche-pattern border. Rev. Winged and horned lion-griffin seated to right, wings ending in bovine head; all within dotted square border within incuse square. Gitler & Tal XXVII.1Db (this coin). Hendin -. Jeselsohn 346 (same dies). Mildenberg, Imagery, pl. II, 37 = Mildenberg, Palästina, pl. LIX, 88 (same dies). Shoshana -. Sofaer -. Extremely rare, one of apparently just four known examples. Darkly toned and with a beautiful rendering of the lion-griffin. Some deposits and with two test cuts, otherwise, good very fine.



As explained under lot 55 above, this mythological creature is probably a lion-griffin, of the type known from Achaemenid imperial art. Particularly remarkable is the treatment of the wingtip as a bovine head; the creature is thus a triple hybrid, uniting elements of lion, griffin, and bull (see also lots 44 and 78 above).