ARABIA, Southern. Ma'in (Minaia)(?). Circa 250-150 BC. AR BLṬT – “Tetradrachm” (20mm, 16.29 g, 9h). Imitating Athens. Near VF.

Triton XXVII
Lot: 364. Estimated: $ 1 000

Greek, Coin-in-Hand Video, Silver

Sold For $ 2 750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

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ARABIA, Southern. Ma'in (Minaia)(?). Circa 250-150 BC. AR BLṬT – “Tetradrachm” (20mm, 16.29 g, 9h). Imitating Athens. Stylized helmeted head of Athena right / Owl standing right, wings folded; stylized olive spray and crescent to left, AOI downward to right. Cf. M. Huth, “The ‘folded flan’ coinage of eastern Arabia: some preliminary comments” in Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 9 (1998), 2/1 (for obv./rev. type); cf. Huth 153/154 (same); M. Huth, “Monetary Circulation in South West Arabia” in CCK, p. 85, 1–2. Lightly toned, patches of find patina. Near VF. Extremely rare, and exceptionally complete.

This fascinating coin of derivative Athenian type was struck on a folded flan of another coin, and was originally attributed by Huth (1998) to a mint in eastern Arabia, where all of the six then-extant examples had been found. The discovery of the al-Jawf hoard in 2002, however, definitively changed his view of this intriguing coinage. In his analysis of the hoard (in CCK), Huth determined that all of the previous six coins, and those found in the hoard, were struck at the same mint, in three phases that employed increasingly simplified methods. In the first phase, the coins were struck on previous tetradrachms that were folded over twice, forming a triangular shaped flan upon which derivative Athenian types were struck (the present coin is from this phase). The second phase consisted of coins struck on previous coins that had only been folded over once, forming a semicircular shaped flan. Finally, in the third phase, the host tetradrachms were cut into two halves that were then each folded once, then both halves were placed upon each other and joined by hammering, resulting in a triangular shape. The identification of the undertype used for this series in uncertain. While Huth originally surmised that Alexanders were the common host coin, his analysis of the al-Jawf hoard suggested that this was not likely. Though the question of the undertype remains unresolved, the hoard provided strong evidence that this series was not of eastern Arabian origin, but rather from a mint in the region of Wadi al-Jawf, in the Minaian trading sphere.

The final winners of all Triton XXVII lots will be determined at the live public sale that will be held on 9-10 January 2024.

Triton XXVII – Session Two – Lot 338–647 will be held Tuesday afternoon, 9 January 2024 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.

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