CNG 90, Lot: 708. Estimate $500. Sold for $3250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PHOENICIA, Tyre. 126/5 BC-AD 65/6. AR Shekel (23mm, 14.30 g, 12h). Dated CY 158(?) (AD 32/3). Laureate bust of Melkart right, lion skin around neck / Eagle standing left on prow; palm frond in background; to left, PNH (?)(date) above club; to right, KP above [control mark]; [letter between legs]. Rouvier –; RPC –; DCA 920; cf. HGC 10, 357 (unlisted date); Meir 5a (same obv. die). Good VF, typical compact flan. Extremely rare date, the third known (the other two in the Kadman Numismatic Pavilion, Eretz-Israel Museum, Tel Aviv).

From the Patrick H.C. Tan Collection.

The engraving on these later pieces in this series is typically crude. While the reading of the date on this example is difficult, this coin is from the same obverse die as the specimen in the ‘Isifya hoard (Meir).