Lot 4708

Description

Samaria, Satrap issue, (375-345 B.C.), silver obol, (0.665 grams), obv. head of female (Arethusa) facing, border of dots, rev. bearded male head to left with crested Athenian helmet, to left in Aramaic, traces of SMRYN, (Meshorer & Qedar 'Coinage of Samaria' (CS), CS 8 (30 known), and Samaria Hoard No.91 (CS), (This Coin illustrated and described). Good fine for issue, and very rare.

Ex Samaria Hoard (No.91) and Sotheby, Zurich Sale, October 27-8, 1993 (lot 987 part). This lot and the next lot represent an opportunity to acquire different examples, all from the famous 'Samaria Hoard' published in Meshorer & Qedar 'Coinage of Samaria in the Fourth Century BCE', Jerusalem, 1991. (A copy of this important book is included in this sale). Every coin in that hoard is illustrated with enlargements and this hoard together with a few other finds became the basis of establishing the existence of a series in an era never previously recognised in the published literature. The legend which reads Samaria, remains uncertain, whether it means the city, the province or the state, or a combination of these meanings. By c.400 B.C, the Samaritans were still considered Jewish and as such were approached by the Jews of Elephantine. The Samaritan high priests and governors in the 5th and 4th century B.C. in the Elephantine documents bear Jewish names. The final separation between the Samaritans and the Jews probably took place a few years after the Samarian hoard's burial (c.346-5 B.C.). Consequently this small group of coins effectively form part of a collection of Biblical coins.