SOUTHERN LEVANT. Circa 420-405 BCE or slightly later. Šql = Tetradrachm (Silver, 26 mm, 16.80 g, 3 h), countermarked on an official Athenian issue. Head of Athena to right, wearing crested Attic helmet decorated with three olive leaves and palmette, circular earring and necklace. Rev. Owl standing right, head facing; to left, olive sprig and crescent; to right, Α☉Ε; all within incuse square; in field to right of the owl, countermark: 𐡁𐡏 (?) (Bʿ in Aramaic) within shallow incuse. Elayi & Lemaire, Graffiti, pl. 24, 171 var. = Gitler & Tal V.7Ta var. = Jeselsohn 85 var. = Mildenberg, Imagery, pl. I, 2 var. = Mildenberg, Palästina, pl. LVII, 37 var. = Samuels, Rynearson & Meshorer, Legacy, pl. 1, 2 var. = Shoshana I 20022 var. (differing countermark). Very rare. Test cut on the reverse, otherwise, very fine.



In 2006, Gitler and Tal expressed serious doubts about the attribution of the countermark on V.7Ta to Gaza, although this reservation was not repeated in their 2024 publication of the Jeselsohn Collection. In the NAC commentary on the present piece – which follows that of Gitler and Tal very closely – it is suggested that the coin is probably of Attic origin ('very likely but not certainly of Athenian mintage'). This caution, however, seems unnecessary, since the piece is obverse die-identical with other, undoubtedly Athenian tetradrachms; cf. Artemide Aste, Asta 47E (2019), 135, and Obolos 17 (2020), 197. Various readings have been proposed for this and related countermarks, including Gaza, but the reading and significance of the mark must ultimately remain open.