Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 519. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $2800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SYRIA, Cyrrhestica, Bambyce (later Hieropolis). Abdahad. Circa 340-332 BC. AR Didrachm (6.72 gm, 12h). Draped bust of Atargatis left, wearing turreted crown; crescent and circle behind / Aramaic 'bdhdd above, high priest and driver, who hold reins, in quadriga left. Mildenberg, "A note on the coinage of Hierapolis Bambyce," Travaux Le Rider, 12 (this coin); Seyrig, "Le monnayage de Hieropolis de Syrie à l'epoque d'Alexandre," RN 1971, pl. 1, 2; Price, "More from the Memphis and the Syria 1989 hoard," Essays Carson-Jenkins, pg. 34, 14-15; BMC Syria -; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG München -. EF, toned, test cut on reverse. Very rare. ($2000)

From the Garth R. Drewry Collection. Ex Sotheby's (Zurich, 27-28 October 1993), lot 815; Numismatic Fine Arts XXX (8 December 1992), lot 113.

Bambyce was famous for its cult of Atargatis, and this issue of the dynast/priest Abdahad displays the bust of the goddess on its obverse. Although the weight of this particular coin is well below the Attic didrachm standard of 8 grams, the known coins of this type do display a wide variance of weights. The reason for this variance is as yet unknown.