Sabaean or Himyarite

[vic9128]

 This is an unusual coin I got in the mid-east and even though in poor shape I thought I would share it. It is Sabaean (or Himyarite) and is a copy of an Alexander the Great coin. The incense road went through Saba and it was the Biblical home of the Queen of Sheba.

[Rich-s.f.o.]

I saw you'r coin and got out my copy of  the Wayne G Sayles book volume 6 non-classical cultures                                                                                            To me it looks like the Sabaens where imitative of the Athenian tets. But the book says                                                                                                                " In addition to the classical imitations of Southern Arabia,                                                                                                                                                             a similar phenomenon may be seen in the region of the Persian Gulf                                                                                                                                                                                ( or the northern part of the Arabian Sea). The billion tetradrachms                                                                                                                                                struck by Abi'el an obscure ruler in this region where modelled after                                                                                                                                             the earlier tetradrachms of Alexander the Great. "                                                                                                                                                                            The dateing is given as ca. 2nd-1st century B.C.                                                                                                                                                                             I haveseen Sabaen and Himyarite coins on sale often but never have seen this,                                                                                                                           on the market, you got a good buy.  I hope this helps

[Ibex-coins]

Do you, know the weight of your coin, I am trying to determine if it is a drachm or obol.  It will help in determining what Potts Catagory this coin could fit in for alexander imitations from eastern arabia.  Too bad that there is heavy corrosion in the right field on the reverse, often coins from eastern arabia have identifying marks in the right field, such as horizontal or vertical "shins".

In eastern arabia it was more common to mint imitations of alexander than in the Sabaean or Himyarite coins.

[vic9128]

I sold this coin many months ago and have no idea what it weighed. I am pretty sure it was a fouree though.