PHILISTIA. Central Mint. Philistian-styled, circa 420-350 BCE. Rbʾ Šql = Drachm (Silver, 13 mm, 3.26 g, 4 h). Bearded male head to left, hair gathered at the back and bound with ribbon on top. Rev. Phoenician palmette, or so-called Paradise flower; 𐡉 - 𐡍 - 𐡏 - 𐡄 (?) (Y, N, ʾ and Ḥ in Aramaic) in the corners; all within dotted square border within incuse square. Gitler & Tal XVII.1Da = Hendin 6017 (this coin). Jeselsohn 285-287 (see note below). Kindler, Ashdod, pl. A, 2 (as 'Ashdod'). Shoshana -. Sofaer -. Sharply struck and exceptionally well preserved. The obverse struck somewhat off center, otherwise, extremely fine.



This type, featuring the Phoenician palmette, or so-called Paradise flower – a term coined by Brian B. Shefton – is relatively common, yet numerous variations occur in the design of the reverse: pieces such as the present one show plain palmettes, while others include additional animal motifs. If one also considers that the obverses differ in whether the head faces left or right, and that two denominations are known, it becomes clear why Gitler & Tal divided this seemingly uniform type into seven variants.

However, the distinction between XXVII.1D (the present piece) and XXVII.2D is in fact unnecessary: better-centered examples such as Jeselsohn 285 and 290 show that these are simply different dies which, although stylistically distinct, belong to the same type. Jeselsohn 285, like 286, is erroneously described there as XXVII.1D, while Jeselsohn 290 is from the same obverse die as our piece, but with a different reverse variant. It is regrettable that the present piece is off-center on the obverse, since, in terms of condition, it is undoubtedly the finest known example from the entire series.