CNG 99, Lot: 379. Estimate $1000. Sold for $850. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ARABIA, Southern. Qataban. Shahr Hilal Yuhan'im. Circa 50-25 BC. AR Hemidrachm (14mm, 1.95 g, 12h). ḤRB mint. Bare male head right; SHR HLL ŠYM (in South Arabian) above / Bearded head right; ŠYM [...] (in South Arabian) above, monogram behind neck, ḤRB (in South Arabian [mint name]) below neck, [monogram before neck]. Unpublished. Good VF, lightly toned. Unique coin of this king with obverse legend.

Shahr Hilal Yuhan'im ruled the South Arabian kingdom of Qataban, with its capital Timna', from circa 50–25 BC. He was the successor of Yad'ab Dhubyan Yuhan'im, whose previous dates (c. 155–135 BC, cf. CCK 358-62) have now been convincingly revised by Prof. Christian Robin to circa 75–50 BC (forthcoming publication). Yad'ab Dhubyan was the issuer of a spectacular tetradrachm (cf. Triton XVI, lot 404). The present coin is the first ever known coin of Yad'ab's son and successor. He himself was succeeded by Hawaf'am Yuhan'im of whom two coins with the Qatabanian mint-mark ḤRB are known (CCK 377 and 378), and whose dates may now have to be raised by about 50 years. Robin's research on the Qatabanian rulers, partially based on coins from the CCK collection and the extremely rare tetradrachms of Yad'ab, has firmly established the succeding kings of the dynasty of Waraw'il Ghaylan, thus providing a much-needed anchoring ground within an as yet uncertain chronology.

The legend on these Qatabanian coins almost always consists of the king's name followed by the verb šym, meaning 'has made' or has erected' (thus corresponding to the Latin 'fecit'). However, it is as yet unclear as to what achievement this formula refers to. Another thorny question is the identification of the head on the reverse (cf. M. Huth, “Gods and Kings” in CCK).