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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Anthony, post: 2131632, member: 42773&quot;]No. It was sold to me as a lead tessera, but if I were to see it without any preconceived notions, I would call it a bronze coin. Perhaps what we have here is not a tessera, but just another barbarous Athena/Nike bronze.</p><p><br /></p><p>These imitative coins date roughly to the time of Aretas II, late 2nd to early 1st centuries BC. My conjecture is that the Nabataeans conscripted trained minters to make the coins in the cities in which they were available, i.e., definitely Damascus, and possibly Gaza. (Aretas II&#039;s seat of power was in Damascus, and Gaza was the primary Nabataean seaport - both cities had long-standing mints.) In other locations within the kingdom, amateur die cutters did the best they could, hence the various barbarous issues.</p><p><br /></p><p>Is Hoover&#039;s coin A1 really a tessera? He tells us it is, but is it also more bronze than lead? It&#039;s impossible to say from the photograph, because as in so many numismatic works, the plates are in black-and-white...</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]405996[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>But it is stylistically in line with the coin I posted, and yours. You say you&#039;re certain yours isn&#039;t lead. Perhaps mine isn&#039;t either. When I look at it next to a <i>bona fide</i> Class B tessera, it doesn&#039;t look like lead at all...</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]405997[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]405998[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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