CNG 94, Lot: 1. Estimate $2000. Sold for $1500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

IBERIA, Punic Iberia. Circa 237-209 BC. AR Shekel (20mm, 7.21 g, 12h). Male head left / Horse standing right; palm tree in background. MHC 131–65 (unlisted dies); ACIP 603. VF, toned, a few marks. Rare.

In the wake of Carthage’s defeat in the First Punic War, its coinage had been greatly changed, with its extensive gold and electrum series mostly replaced by debased silver and bronze. In contrast, the Carthaginians in Iberia enjoyed access to the rich gold and silver mines on the peninsula, which allowed the Barcids to develop a coinage that served their military and political needs. Perhaps the most controversial of their types were those that featured a beardless male portrait, as on the present piece. The initial tendency of numismatists was to view these portraits as being those of the Barcids, but the modern consensus is that the bareheaded portrait is almost certainly a rendition of a young Melkart. A comparison of three different varieties of Melkart in SNG BM Spain (nos. 97, 98, and 103) is demonstrative of their nearly identical features.