PHILISTIA. Central Mint. Philistian-styled, circa 420-350 BCE. Mʿh = Obol (Silver, 10 mm, 0.70 g, 4 h). Bearded male head to right. Rev. Head of a ram to right above ibex recumbent right, an owl concealed within its body (?); all within dotted square border within incuse square. Gitler & Tal XX.12Oa (this coin). Hendin -. Jeselsohn -. Shoshana -. Sofaer -. Extremely rare, the finest of apparently just two known examples. A wonderful coin, beautifully toned and with an exceptionally attractive reverse. Light deposits, otherwise, extremely fine.



Stylistically, the obverse of this coin closely parallels Gitler & Tal XXVI.1Db = lot 114 below and was presumably engraved by the same gifted hand. The reverse, by contrast, finds a close iconographic parallel in lots 4-5 above, where two confronting ram’s heads appear beneath a bovine reclining to right. Concealed within the body of that animal is an owl, raising the possibility that a similar hidden motif may also be incorporated into the ibex on the present coin. With its exceptionally fine reverse, this piece undoubtedly ranks among the finest known examples of mʿh.