Nabbed a lot of funky Nabataeans... or did I? & The wonders of Petra + ID help

Like most of you I've long been infatuated with the ancient Nabataeans and their capitol city of Petra:


But their coinage is... funky.


Nevertheless, I've started picking up a few here and there:

NABATAEAN KINGDOM. Aretas IV and Shaqilat (9 BC-AD 40). AE (18mm, 3.58 gm, 11h). XF. Petra, AD 20-40. Jugate busts of Aretas and Shaqilat right, Aramaic letter before / Aretas Shaqilath (Aramaic), legend in three lines above and below two crossed cornucopias. Meshorer, Nabataea 114. Nearly VF
Ex: Savoca



Malichos & Queen Shaqilath,
NABATAEA , Silver Drachm, 40-71 AD, GIC-5702, Bust r/bust r; F, smallish flan with partial lgnds, but good metal and fully clear portraits, decent for this. Scarce!
Ex: Frank Robinson


Recently I purchased a lot of ten from Heritage, hoping for some harder to find rulers.


You'll see a LOT of Aretas IV and Shaqilat up for sale (I suppose ruling for nearly five decades Leads to loads of coins... if your good at what you do).
Six of the ten are clearly Aretas IV and Shaqilat and then a couple that I believe are Malichos II and a Rabbell II.
But then there's these two types that match nothing on wild winds nor up for auction listed as Nabataean... at least that I could find.
The first one looks more Seleuikid with the double cornucopia on its reverse and nothing more than the back of a head or a nose to go off of on the obverse:


And this one appears to only have writing on it; Aramaic(?):




Any help identifying is appreciated as are coins, pictures or thoughts on the alchemy Nabataeans!

 

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Are the building carvings at Petra still intact after extremists went nuts

 

Jordan is one of my favorite countries for historical tourism. Petra, Jerash, the Wadi Rum desert... they are truly incredibly sights to see.

 

Aretas IV
Mint: Petra
5 to 4 BC
Obvs: Aretas IV head right.
Revs: Two parallel cornucopias. H monogram to right, monogram below.
AE 12x14mm, 1.8g
Ref: Meshorer 61a

I believe yours is 61b

I don't know what the bottom coin is, but it's not Nabataean.

 

My in laws went right before COVID hit and their pics were stunning.
Now, I remember being taken aback a while ago when, I believe, you had mentioned collecting Nabataean coinage.
Anything you wouldn't mind sharing (he said greedily rubbing his hands together and licking his lips)?

 

I recall Palmyra being pretty well decimated (and not the nice Roman one in ten way). Maybe I'm forgetful, but I must have forgotten it happening to Petra. googling...

 

I unfortunately haven't yet started that side-collection, but I will certainly share pieces when they find their way here

 

Well, talk about having a great eye (and better centering)! Thanks so much
Maybe I'll have to reach out to wild winds and have them add my type to help the next guy

 

I don't think the Petra carvings were attacked by extremists. I think maybe Jordan was spared a lot of the extremist ISIS violence, which plagued Syria and Iraq, a few years ago, but I'm not sure about that. I looked through the Wikipedia article, and I didn't see anything, about extremists.
However, it seems that, the Petra site is in danger of being worn away, by the hands and feet of tourists.
In a USA Today article, it says "it took only a decade of tourists leaning against and touching the Al Khazneh (The Treasury) to wear down its surface by 1.5 inches."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/trav...rs-10-world-heritage-sites-in-danger/2163883/
I guess it's a common problem, for ancient tourist attractions.
But especially with Petra, because "the red sandstone is soft and easily eroded".
"The dramatic rise in visitors over recent decades—from 65,000 in 1986 to nearly 1 million in 2010—is taking its toll."
Wikipedia says, that there were "1.1 million tourists in 2019".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra

 

Like Yellowstone, love these places to death and ruin

 

The second coin is an Umayyad AE fals of the standard post-reform Kalima type, typical of Syria and Palestine, c. 700-750. Most have no mint or date but share a common legend in Arabic: There is no god but Allah / Muhammad is the apostle of Allah.

 

WoW! Thanks very much! I'll have to see if there is anything more I can find about the type

 

Too bad their mint workers did not exhibit the same quality as their architects!
"You can't always get what you want"
J.T.

 

Petra is still fine. Jordan is a moderate country and suffered very little violence. I visited Petra some time ago and credit it for starting me in ancient coin collecting. Of course, every coin I purchased there was fake, but when I got home I started researching ancient coins and learned that they were more accessible and less expensive than I had thought.

When I went there we took a night time walk through the canyon. I highly recommend it as Petra was stunning!