CNG 99, Lot: 371. Estimate $2000. Sold for $1800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ARABIA, Eastern. Gerrha. Circa 150 BC. AR Tetradrachm (28.5mm, 14.70 g, 10h). Imitating the types of Alexander III of Macedon. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / Shams, wearing tainia and chlamys, seated left on backless throne, holding eagle in his extended right hand, leaning with his left on a long staff; Arabian šin, vertically oriented, in left field. Potts, Suppl. 14; Huth 111; Price 3958; HGC 10, 696. VF, toned, a bit rough, scratches in fields. Rare, and only the second to appear at auction (see CNG 69, lot 1856, for the first).

Reportedly found in Israel.

The issues with vertical shin follow a very rare series with the full name of Shams (CCK 106f). They are tentatively attributed to the Gerhhaean kingdom in modern Saudi Arabia. Although the Bahrain hoard of 1969/70 (cf. Morkholm 1972) contained 211 coins of this type, all were accessioned into the Bahrain Museum; they are very rare in trade. With findspots as scattered as Tylos/Bahrain, the Yemeni Jawf (CCK 111f.), and Israel, these coins appear to have circulated widely. The more prolific series with horizontal Shin are attributed to the Island of Ikaros/Failaka (modern Kuwait).