Dramatic Double Strike

CNG 111, Lot: 394. Estimate $3000. Sold for $2300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

NABATAEA. Obodas II, with Hagaru I. 30-9 BC. AR Half Shekel – “Didrachm” (22mm, 6.06 g, 12h). Pre-reform coinage. Petra mint. Dated RY 2 (29/8 BC). Jugate diademed and draped busts of Obodas and Hagaru right; Nabataean Ḥ to lower right / ‘BDT MLK’ MLK NBṬW (in Nabataean = Obodas the King, King of the Nabataeans), eagle standing left; ŠNT TRTYN (in Nabataean = year two [date]) across central field; Nabataean S to lower left, Nabataean Ḥ to upper right. Barkay, King 3; Meshorer, Nabataea –; HGC 10, –; DCA 962 corr. (QE 20 is actually dated RY 4). VF, toned, some roughness, great double strike on obverse, giving appearance of three inline busts. Extremely rare, possibly the second known (marked as ‘unique’ in Barkay).