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Message:: [QUOTE="John Anthony, post: 2302892, member: 42773"]7. Have you learned your ancient Yemeni alphabet yet? Tsk, tsk, for shame. And you call yourself a numismatist? Well here you go, get cracking! [ATTACH=full]462846[/ATTACH] Actually, I'm not so clear on the lettering of this coin myself - definitely a research project for the new year. These quinarius-weight coins aren't rare by any means, but I had not collected any in the past as I couldn't find coins in which grade and price lined up acceptably. I found this one misplaced in a dealer's flip box of Byzantines at the last Baltimore show, and he let me have it for a mere $40. The trick is getting a fully-struck head on the reverse. It may seem odd to refer to South Arabian coins as quinarii, but by the first century, Rome had superseded the Nabataean monopoly on overland transport of spices, with sea routes from Alexandria to Raidan via the Red Sea. The standards of Arabia Felix lined up, roughly, with that of Roman coinage, at least for a time. I can't double-check the attribution on this coin - yet another volume I need to add to the library. [ATTACH=full]462847[/ATTACH] 7. Arabia Felix, Himyarites & Sabaeans. ‘Mdn Byn'AR Unit, 16mm, 1.5g, 11h; Raidan mint, mid-late 1st century.Obv.: Head right in dotted border, monogram to left.Rev.: Tha' Ran Ya' NB; Head right; ‘scepter’ to right // RYDN.Reference: Munro-Hay 3.25[/QUOTE]