PHILISTIA. Central Mint. Philistian-styled, circa 420-350 BCE. Mʿh = Obol (Silver, 9 mm, 0.42 g, 2 h). Bearded male head to right, facing female head to left; both wearing beaded necklaces and with their hair gathered high on the head and secured by lion-headed, rhyton-shaped ornaments; all within circular guilloche-pattern border. Rev. Bearded male head to right, wearing beaded necklace and with his hair gathered high on the head and secured by a lion-headed, rhyton-shaped ornament; behind, 𐡔 (Š in Aramaic); all within square guilloche-pattern border within incuse square. CSC -. Hendin -. Jeselsohn -. Meshorer & Qedar -. Sofaer -. Unpublished and apparently unique. The obverse weakly struck and with a die break on the reverse, otherwise, good very fine.



This unpublished coin is a fractional denomination of the type represented by lot 88 above. It is also so closely related stylistically to lot 90 below that the dies were clearly cut by the same gifted artist. Although weakly struck on the obverse, the level of detail is remarkable for a coin measuring only 9 mm in diameter. Its weight of 0.42 g suggests that it is a low-weight mʿh or obol.