Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GinoLR, post: 19705272, member: 128351&quot;]There has been for a long time in a drawer a small tetrobol of Arados I always suspected to be a forgery. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1539468[/ATTACH] </p><p>Arados, AR tetrobol, 3.42 g</p><p>Obv.: <b>M &#039;A</b> (in phoenician letters, meaning &quot;<i>from &#039;A(rwad)</i>&quot;), the marine god Ba&#039;al Arwad, head turned r., holding two dolphins. </p><p>rev.: stylized galley r. over hippocamp r., in incuse square with dotted borders.</p><p><br /></p><p>Normally the Persian period tetrobols of Arados show the marine deity Ba&#039;al Arwad (meaning &quot;the Lord of Arados&quot;) bearded with long hair. Why is this one clean-shaved with short hair? </p><p><br /></p><p>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 :</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1539469[/ATTACH]</p><p>1 : 3.47 g. Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH &amp; Co. KG auction 89.1487 (3.8.2004)</p><p>2 : 3.33 g. Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH &amp; Co. KG auction 97.946 (3.7.2005)</p><p>3 : 3.60 g. Dvin Numismatik auction 1.68 (7.7.2018)</p><p><br /></p><p>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). </p><p><br /></p><p>No unbearded Ba&#039;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.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in