PHOENICIA, Tyre. Mid 5th century BC. AR 1/4 Shekel (13mm, 3.42 g, 11h). Dolphin right, murex shell on its body; Phoenician MH TsGR above, waves below / Owl standing right, head facing; crook and flail over shoulder; all within incuse square . Elayi & Lemaire series A, 1st group; cf. Betlyon 4 (”half shekel”); SNG Copenhagen -; Boston MFA 317. EF, a hint of horn silver. Exceptional for issue. Extremely rare, only 3 examples known to Elayi & Lemaire.
The dolphin / owl coinage comprise the first series of coinage at Tyre. This coinage consists of a great variety of silver denominations from the shekel to the 1/24 shekel fraction. J. Elayi made a detailed analysis of this coinage in two separate articles, one on the shekels and another on the fractions, respectively: "Les sicles de Tyr au dauphin" in QT 1992, and (with A. Lemaire) "Les petites monnaies de Tyr au Dauphin avec inscription" in QT 1990. What is most intriguing about this coinage is their Phoenician inscriptions. Unlike later issues with regnal years and/or portions of a king's name, the inscriptions in this series are less clear. Many numismatists, such as J. Rouvier, E. Babelon, C. Kraay, A. Kindler, and J.W. Betlyon, proposed a variety of possibilities, but a consistent problem is the interpretation of the actual letters on the coins. Elayi has demonstrated that these inscriptions do vary within each series, and the quantity of the coins available is too scant to accurately conclude their meaning (see also: J. Elayi and A.G. Elayi, "Systems of Abreviations Used by Biblos, Tyre and Arwad in their Pre-Alexandrine Coinages" in JNG 37/38 (1987/8), p. 15). That said, a popular interpretation of the legend on the 1/4 staters is "a half" or "half of silver" (e.g. Betlyon p. 41; Sear 5907), meaning a half-shekel. If this were so, the Phoenicial shekel should generally weigh about 7-8 grams. The metrological analyses that Elayi has conducted throughout her examination of this series, and other early Phoenician cities, however, has conclusively demonstrated that Phoenician shekels have an average weight 13-14 grams.
A further note on the Betlyon reference above: Betlyon 4 is referenced to plate 4 (ostensibly coin 7), but this is not the correct photo. This photo is of a 1/24th shekel similar to his Tyre 3, but it has the Phoenician letters MR above the dolphin. Also, Betlyon references his coin to the de Luynes collection, but this is incorrect (see Elayi & Lemaire, p. 105, n. 13).
