PHILISTIA. Central Mint. Philistian-styled, circa 420-350 BCE. Rbʾ Šql = Drachm (Silver, 16 mm, 3.69 g, 9 h). Janiform bearded male head, wearing pearl necklace. Rev. Two antithetic griffin-like creatures with elongated, wing-like necks ending in bovine heads; facing female head between them; all within guilloche-patterned square border within incuse square. Gitler & Tal -, cf. VI.16D (Gaza). Hendin -, cf. 6009 (Gaza). Jeselsohn -, cf. 144 (Gaza). Leu 19 (2025), 93 (same dies). Mildenberg, Vestigia, -, cf. pl. XXV, 34 (Gaza). Shoshana -. Sofaer -. Apparently unpublished without the ethnic, apart from the die-matching example in Leu 19 (2025), 93, and by far the finer of the two. A magnificent piece of vigorous style, struck on excellent metal; surely among the most impressive surviving Philistian coins. Very light doubling on the obverse and with a test cut and a small scuff on the reverse, otherwise, nearly extremely fine.



This remarkable coin is closely connected to lot 44 above from Gaza, but lacks the ethnic legend on the reverse. The janiform head on the obverse is also rendered differently, without the continuous horizontal line of hair connecting the two faces that is so characteristic of Gitler & Tal VI.16D. Close parallels for the reverse occur among other anepigraphic types, including Gitler & Tal XXVII.5D, XXVIII.14O and Mildenberg, Vestigia, pl. XXVII, 18. The connection to Gaza is clearly very strong. The absence of the ethnic, however, suggests that the coin may have been issued in a different context, whether under another authority or for another purpose.

The piece must rank among the most impressive surviving Philistian coins. The janiform head, with its unusual pairing of two male faces rather than the more familiar male-and-female combination, belongs among the finest achievements of Philistian die engraving. No less remarkable is the reverse, with its two lion-griffins whose necks, transformed into wings ending in bovine heads, enfold the central facing face. As the comparison with lot 115 below shows, the engraver employs another sophisticated visual device: the frontal female head takes the place of the lion-griffins' expected profile heads. The result is a particularly successful example of the interplay between frontal and profile views so characteristic of Philistian coinage. What might otherwise be read as a pair of confronting felines in profile – compare lot 57 above, where the device appears with two lions – is here transformed into two complex hybrid beings framing the central focus of the composition: the frontal, apotropaic female head.