PHOENICIA, Tyre. 126/5 BC-AD 65/6. AR Shekel (28.5mm, 14.19 g, 1h). Dated CY 16 (111/0 BC). EF.

Triton XXVI
Lot: 375. Estimated: $ 2 000

Greek, Silver

Sold For $ 2 500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Go to Live

PHOENICIA, Tyre. 126/5 BC-AD 65/6. AR Shekel (28.5mm, 14.19 g, 1h). Dated CY 16 (111/0 BC). Head of Melkart right, wearing laurel wreath, [lion skin around neck] / Eagle standing left on prow; palm frond in background; to left, LΘ (date) above club; monogram to right, Phoenician B between legs; TYPOY IEPAΣ KAI AΣYΛOY around. DCA-Tyre 42 (same obv. die as illustration); HGC 10, 357; DCA 919. Lightly toned, small deposit on obverse. EF. Well struck on a broad flan.

One of the great cities of Phoenicia, Tyre was first a subject of the Ptolemies and then of the Seleukids; it was an important mint for both dynasties. The city received a grant of autonomy from the Seleukid Crown in 126/5 BC, whereupon Tyre immediately inaugurated a new civic coinage dated to the era of its autonomy, with certain affinities to the coinage it had formerly minted for its royal masters. The civic silver featured a new obverse type, a head of the Phoenician god Melkart, but the reverse type of an eagle standing on a prow was identical to the reverse of Tyre’s Seleukid coinage, which in turn had been an elaboration on the Ptolemaic eagle. Half- and quarter-shekels were also struck. The early shekels, such as the first three lots offered, are struck on relatively broad, thin flans and bear a striking image of a muscular, laureate Melqart looking very much like the Greek Herakles, with a lion skin knotted around his neck. Later issues, commencing in 20/19 BC, have a distinctly different fabric, being struck on compact, thick flans, with cruder images and lettering.

The final winners of all Triton XXVI lots will be determined at the live public sale that will be held on 10-11 January 2023.

Triton XXVI – Session Two – Lot 335-673 will be held Tuesday afternoon, 10 January 2023 beginning at 2:00 PM ET.

Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.

We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers. The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and stable previous version of Chrome and Firefox.