PHILISTIA. Gaza. Circa 420-350 BCE. Rbʾ Šql = Drachm (Silver, 17 mm, 3.96 g, 9 h). Youthful female head to right, hair gathered at the back. Rev. Facing head of Bes; in fields, 𐡏-𐡆 (ʿZ in Aramaic); all within dotted square border within incuse square. Fischer-Bossert, Philistian, 32b = Gitler & Tal VI.14Db (this coin). Hendin -. Jeselsohn 141 (same dies). Mildenberg, Vestigia, pl. XXVII, 25. Shoshana -. Sofaer -. Extremely rare and of great numismatic interest. A beautiful, lightly toned coin and an important overstrike. Traces of overstriking and with a test cut on the reverse, otherwise, about extremely fine.



What makes this piece significant, quite apart from its great rarity, is the evidence of overstriking – evidence that has not previously been discussed in the literature, perhaps because the undertype had not yet been identified. Traces of the earlier coin are visible on both sides. On the reverse, in the beard of Bes, a bearded head right can be made out when the coin is rotated through 240°. On the obverse, the evidence is less immediately legible: a dotted square border within an incuse square is clearly visible, but the main device is almost entirely obscured. The Aramaic letter 𐡏 (ʿAyin), however, can be seen distinctly on the neck of the female head.

Taken together, these traces point to an undertype with a bearded male head right on its obverse and, on its reverse, a dotted square border within an incuse square accompanied by the letter 𐡏. This points either to Gitler & Tal V.8D (cf. lot 25 above) or to Gitler & Tal VI.1D (cf. lot 31 above). A close comparison with Gitler & Tal V.8Da specifically confirms the former identification: the laurel-wreathed bearded head, modelled on an Aradian prototype and thus perhaps representing Ba'al-Arwad, corresponds precisely to the visible facial outline on the reverse of the present piece. At the same time, the fine lines of the falcon’s tail feathers can now also be recognized on the obverse, extending from the hair of the female head into the corner of the undertype’s incuse square. The present coin was therefore overstruck on an earlier issue of Gaza, apparently struck from the same dies as the example published as Gitler & Tal V.8Da, and thus provides valuable evidence for the relative chronology of the city’s coinage.