Triton XVII, Lot: 403. Estimate $5000. Sold for $16000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ARABIA, Southern. Qataban. Unknown ruler(s). Circa 350-320/00 BC. AR Didrachm (17mm, 8.28 g, 9h). Imitating Athens. Timna mint. Head of Athena right, k (in South Arabian) on cheek, wearing earring, necklace, and crested Attic helmet decorated with three olive leaves over visor, a spiral palmette on the bowl, and on neck guard, monogram composed of South Arabian letters h and m / Owl standing right, head facing; [olive sprig] and crescent behind, Royal Qatabanian monogram, composed of South Arabian letters h and l, and ÅQE to right. Van Alfen, Studies 61b (A2/R2) = Huth 348 = CAF type 1.0a.2, (App. 5), 28 = S. Munro-Hay, “Coins of ancient South Arabia, II” in NC 156 (1996), 28 = Y.M. ‘Abdullah, A.O. Ghaleb, and A.V. Sedov, “Early Qatabanian coinage: the as-Surayrah coin hoard” in Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 8.2 (1997), 69 (this coin); HGC 10, 709 (this coin illustrated). Near EF, toned, minor roughness, a couple light cleaning marks. Extremely rare, one of three known.

From the Marin Huth Collection, 348. Ex as-Surayrah Hoard (CH X, 303).

Together with the Minaean and Sabaean kingdoms, Qataban controlled much of the Southern part of the ancient incense road. All of these entities copied Athenian types on their coins, testifying to both their trade contacts with the Mediterranean and the influx of Athenian coinage as a result of the profitable incense trade. This coin is remarkable for its copying the early ‘frontal’ eye type of Athens. While the letter on the cheek is a denominational mark (cf. P. Stein, “Monetary Terminology in Ancient South Arabia in Light of New Epigraphic Evidence” in CCK), and the reverse monogram identifies the issuing authority, the meaning of the monogram on the obverse remains unexplained. Just as the issuing of didrachms in Athens occurred only during a very brief period, imitative didrachms of Attic weight are almost non-existent in the East – apart from one coin from Hierapolis (Meshorer & Qedar p. 14), it appears that only the Qatabanians issued this denomination, albeit only very briefly.