SAMARIA. Series with personal names and miscellaneous letters. Jeroboam (?), circa mid 4th century BCE. Mʿh = Obol (Silver, 11 mm, 0.68 g, 12 h). Forepart of a horned lion to right; behind, uncertain symbol. Rev. Forepart of a bull to right; to right, uncertain Aramaic legend (𐡉𐡓𐡁𐡏𐡌 (?) = YRBʿM), all within shallow incuse circle. CSC 186. Hendin pl. 4, 6044 (this coin). Jeselsohn 278-279. Meshorer & Qedar 159. Shoshana -. Sofaer 206. Wyssmann p. 291, MQ 159.j (this coin). Beautifully toned and unusually complete for this difficult issue. Struck from somewhat worn dies and with minor traces of overstriking, otherwise, extremely fine.



The Aramaic legend on this type has so far resisted any convincing interpretation. Gitler, Johananoff and Tal propose, 'very tentatively', 𐡉𐡓𐡁𐡏𐡌 = YRBʿM, which would associate the issue with Jeroboam (cf. lots 138-139 below), but prefer to list the type under 'Letters Misc.' Although the present coin is catalogued here under Jeroboam, this attribution remains uncertain.