An imitation of an Athenian tetradrachm with two apparent countermarks in Aramaic and Paleo Hebrew

This is the last ancient coin for me this year. It came to me from a French seller via MA Shops.

It is an imitative tetradrachm of Athens, probably Egyptian in origin, late 5th through mid 4th centuries BC. As these coins go, it is fairly typical: crude, stylistically divergent from Athenian coins of the late 5th century and of fairly low metal quality. Additionally the coin has horn silver, although the detail on both sides is quite decent and the centering is good for this type.

I did not buy this coin just to add another imitative tetradrachm to the collection; there are others on the market to be had. I bought this coin for two apparent counterstamps on the reverse.

The first counterstamp on the reverse, between the crescent moon and the owl's head appears to be an Aramaic yudh:



The second counterstamp, somewhat less defined due to the horn silver, between the owl and ethnic, appears to the Paleo Hebrew symbol for resh:



I am not an expert on ancient languages, these conjectures on the counterstamps are based on my next to nonexistent knowledge in this area.

The coin weighs 16.2 grams and measures 24 mm.




Any thoughts?

Thanks and have a happy and prosperous 2021.

 

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I like it. I would never have noticed those counterstamps tbh.

 

Thanks.

There is some ambiguity with these counterstamps, give the surface condition of the coin (horn silver and mediocre metal quality), but it is fun to guess about what they are.

 

There also seems to be one on the obverse; it looks like the Aramaic letter
Kāp ‎

 

That's interesting - where on the obverse do you see this letter?

Thanks

I've take a look at the obverse, and I think I see the letter, on the lower part of the helmet. It doesn't look like a countermark, but instead a part of the design.

 

In front of her neck, highlighted in red:

 

Thanks

I see the area you're referring to.

There's also something on the neck guard of the helmet. It almost looks like some kind of animal's head facing left, but now I think my imagination is running rampant! Surface corrosion will do that.

 

I feel like a lot of what y'all are seeing is a result of the horn silver.
Then again, I know nothing so I will just go back to the corner and color pictures

 

I can see what you mean; I am highlighting it in turquoise, as well as something that looks like a pebble; can you compare your coin with others on the web and see if they have the same something on the neck guard and pebble? But, as you say, maybe we are starting to imagine things that are not there, but I don't think it is the result of horn silver, because they seem to be struck

 

Well, it is fun what it is, if it is. It sort of looks like an elephant head, possibly a mint control symbol? Elephants do appear in Egyptian hieroglyphs.



There is more of suggestion of a trunk on the coin than is depicted in the photo, but getting more detail is tough due to the really granular surface.

This is the best I can do, given my limited skills.

 

This is so fascinating.

I have a tetradrachm with an Aramaic countermark on Athena’s cheek, probably from Gaza where the first coins were minted on the Athens model. Coins began to be minted in the Holy Land itself about 400 BC or shortly thereafter. The first coins were struck in Gaza. They imitated Athenian and Phoenician coins, and had typical Greek and oriental symbols.
The obverse, so you can see the Aramaic letters ει:



and the reverse:


19 x 24 mm, 17.113 g

 

Nice coin!