PHILISTIA. Central Mint. Athenian-styled, circa 420-350 BCE. Rbʾ Šql = Drachm (Subaeratus, 15 mm, 2.73 g, 6 h). Head of Athena to right, wearing crested Attic helmet decorated with three olive leaves and palmette. Rev. Rider on horse to right, in upper left field, olive sprig; all within dotted square border within incuse square. Gitler & Tal XIII.16Da (this coin). Hendin -. Jeselsohn (same dies). Shoshana -. Sofaer -. Extremely rare, and the finest known example. Breaks in plating on the obverse and with a test cut on the reverse, otherwise, very fine.



All known specimens of this type are silver-plated. These are by no means unofficial contemporary forgeries; rather, the coins were deliberately produced as such. Gitler and Tal record an example on which the entire silver plating has been lost (XXIII.16Db), leaving only the blurred outlines of the design visible on the bronze core. In fact, the present specimen is the best preserved example known. Although the plating on the obverse has also been largely lost, the reverse is almost completely preserved, despite the test cut.