First Instance of South Arabian Graffiti on a Coin

CNG 99, Lot: 134. Estimate $2000. Sold for $1300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ATTICA, Athens. Circa 454-404 BC. AR Tetradrachm (22.5mm, 17.01 g, 8h). Helmeted head of Athena right / Owl standing right, head facing; olive sprig and crescent behind; all within incuse square. Kroll 8; HGC 4, 1597. Good VF, lightly toned, T-shaped pattern composed of similar chisel marks on both sides, graffiti composed of t-y-m in ancient South Arabian in field on reverse.

While few Athenian coins have been found in Arabia, these finds as well as the fact that the first local coinages in South Arabia imitated that of Athens, testify to their circulation (as well as that of their imitations) in the region. The present coin is the first instance of a South Arabian graffiti on a coin. The three letters represent a common Arabian name of a male individual (Taym, comment by Prof. Michael Macdonald, University of Oxford). The curious use of small chisel cuts also occurs on a tetradrachm of Ptolemy I from Alexandreia (Lanz 155, lot 341). We may therefore assume that the present tetradrachm first traveled to Egypt, before coming down on the inland incense road along the eastern coast of present-day Saudi Arabia on its way to South Arabia (Yemen) where it received the graffiti.