There has been for a long time in a drawer a small tetrobol of Arados I always suspected to be a forgery. Arados, AR tetrobol, 3.42 g Obv.: M 'A (in phoenician letters, meaning "from 'A(rwad)"), the marine god Ba'al Arwad, head turned r., holding two dolphins. rev.: stylized galley r. over hippocamp r., in incuse square with dotted borders. Normally the Persian period tetrobols of Arados show the marine deity Ba'al Arwad (meaning "the Lord of Arados") bearded with long hair. Why is this one clean-shaved with short hair? For several reasons I was suspecting a fake. But I see that three other specimens from the same pair of dies have been auctioned in 2004, 2005 and 2018 : 1 : 3.47 g. Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co. KG auction 89.1487 (3.8.2004) 2 : 3.33 g. Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co. KG auction 97.946 (3.7.2005) 3 : 3.60 g. Dvin Numismatik auction 1.68 (7.7.2018) If these coins were approved by experts and auctioned, probably mine would be found authentic as well. All 4 were minted together from the same pair of dies on low quality silver blanks (all show the same kind of corrosion). No unbearded Ba'al Arwad is known on other dies. It seems these tetrobols were the only emission with the god looking like a young ephebe. It can be dated 5th-4th c. BC but I think it must be relatively late in the 4th c., even probably when Alexander the Great occupied Phoenicia.
You make a strong case for your coin being genuine. At first glance, I would agree it is genuine as well.
@GinoLR Beautiful! As far as I have researched, the Phoenician letters M A mean from right to left "King of Arwad". Most Aradian coins bear the same two Phoenician letters mem (M) and aleph (A or ´).
