Very nice coins but i still can not defforentiate between the Sidon obols and their imitations Samarian obols!!!!
I understand your concerns Canaan, the subject of whether or not these coins should be seeded to
Sidon or to
Samaria is not an easy explanation. Studies of this
type are very sketchy to say the least;
"Galley left with oars and row of shields and waves below / Persian King wearing crenellated crown right, (seizing Lions forelock with left hand, and holding dagger in right) slaying lion standing before him on hind legs."Do you own a copy of "
Meshorer-Qedar 1991" ? This is a great tool in helping understand the diversity, and in some cases sense of humour (for want of a better explanation) the Samarians
had when imitating coins of
Sidon. There are coins of this
type with
birds (possibly a duck), geometric designs and
ankh symbols (possibly of
Egyptian influence) between the legs of the Persian
King and
Lion !
The official Samarian coins during the reign of Mazday, have the abbreviation SMRYN (
Samaria) above the galley. Whereas the
Sidon coins have era dates above (Coins of this
type during the reign of `Abd`astart I, have a Phoenician letter Beth above galley).
Betlyon writes in
his publication
"The Coinage and Mints of Phoenicia," that Mazday reigned on two occasions in
Sidon. Follow the link for a more in depth explanation.
https://phoeniciancoins.wordpress.com/2016/10/02/coins-baring-the-name-of-mazday/I believe that most of the confusion surrounding this
type derived from the Samarian
hoard that contained a variety of coins from
Samaria and
Phoenicia, consisting of; 182 coins of
Samaria, 43 coins of
Sidon, 32 coins of Tyre, 11 coins of Arados and 66 imitations of Athenian prototypes.
It is difficult to know where the line is drawn, more studies are required.
