Is this a fouree?- brown appears in the surface of the core. It is purported to be a Samarian obol

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Weight?
Actually a Phoenician obol, and commonly are fourree's.

 

It was said to be a Samarian imitation under Phoenician rule-Sidon rule. I thought that might be true because there are three little rays emerging from the letter "ayin"- the circle, between King and Lion. I found one like that in a pdf online of Samarian coinage. I can post that here maybe. I believe it was sold as .49g which is I now figure is underweight.(I have at the moment no scale to check).

 

Here is the pdf with the Samarian/Sidon obol listed as #14. .64g, 8mm

 

Originally I thought Sidon as well, but I believe you are correct with Samaria. The standard for the obol is 0.72, so it is under weight. I don't have the reference, but you may need Meshorer & Qedar to correctly identify. I had a dozen or so of these now all sold and almost all were debased or fourree.

 

Thanks for your input David. I guess I will have to buy that Meshorer & Qedar to correctly identify it.