Lot 2887

Description

Samaria, Satrap issue, (375-345 B.C.), silver obol, (0.66 grams), obv. head of bearded satrap to l., wearing Persian tiara, border of dots, rev. Persian king standing to l., fighting winged horned animal, he holds the animal horn in his r., and a gagger in his l. hand, on r. in Aramaic, off the flan [SMRYN], (Meshorer & Qedar 'Coinage of Samaria' (CS), CS 3 (20 known), and Samaria Hoard No.16 (CS), (this coin illustrated and described). Good fine for issue, and very rare.

Ex. Samaria Hoard (No.16) and Sotheby, Zurich Sale, October 27-8, 1993 (lot 987 part). $$ This lot and the next seven lots represent an opportunity to acquire different examples, (with many types never previously available in this country), all from the famous 'Samaria Hoard' published in Meshorer & Qedar 'Coinage of Samaria in the Fourth Century BCE', Jerusalem, 1991. Every coin in that hoard in illustrated with enlargements and this hoard together with a few other finds became the basis of establishing the existance of a series for a country 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 form part of a collection of Biblical coins.