Tyre, AE13, 124/123 BC

=> Go track it down, Shaggy!!

 

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After careful sleuthing, I'm pretty sure that John Antony is Frank Hardy.

 

I just figured they were both gay.

 

Poseidon/Galley from Arados Phonecia 140 BC

 

Haha guys, thanks for egging me on!

After scouring Wildwinds, Coinproject, and acsearch, I'm convinced this coin is a bilepton minted in Tyre, belonging to Antiochus IV, or V. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here it is. All these coins are within tolerance of mine: 13-14mm, 2g., give or take a tenth gram. I think it's obvious at first glance that my coin belongs somewhere in this family...



1. The tree is a date palm, with two dates hanging from the base of the lowest branches. The date palm type appears exclusively on Tyrian provincial issues.

2. I found a bilepton of Antiochus III (the last coin pictured in his group) with an anepigraphic reverse, but Antiochus III is portrayed as an adult on all the coins of his that I examined.

3. His son, Antiochus IV, is generally portrayed as a younger man even though he ruled at an older age span than his father. The first coin in his group is closer to mine: younger portrait/date palm/no legend.

4. Antiochus V was allowed to rule by the Seleucid senate from the ages of 9 to 11, under a regent, after his parents were killed in Parthia. His coins all portray him as a boy - see the silver issue in his group for a representative example. I found one bilepton of this type issued under his authority, and we know the coin was struck during his reign because it's dated.

I'm leaning heavily toward attributing my coin to Antiochus V because we know the type exists under his reign, and the portrait on my coin looks like a young boy. But I believe Antiochus IV is also a possibility.

That's the best I can do for now, but I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for more examples of the type. I suppose it's bad form to buy a coin and then try to figure out what you bought, huh?

 

=> Case closed!! (good job, JA)

 

The case isn't closed Jerry, it's barely open. I could be proved totally wrong, but for now, going on the information I have, I'm assigning the piece to Antiochus V. I need to get a copy of Lindgren to see what's actually in it - dealers sometimes just take the attributions off the web if they find a coin that looks similar to theirs.

I took better pics this morning, with strong but diffuse light. It's a dark coin, that's all there is to it. But this is a faithful reproduction of how it actually looks...