I need help to find out about this tetradrachm [solved]

Weight is 14,83 gram, Ø is 26,9 mm, thickness is 3-4 mm and composition is silver. I believe this coin is a tetradrachm from Arados but I cannot find any corresponding the characters on Nike's left side. I have tried to write them on a piece of paper. It is not easy to identify the characters from the photo.

Thank you in advance.

On the reverse it says “ΑΡΑΔΙΩΝ” so it has to be Arados (Phoenice).

Here a possible coin that suits yours: N#307001

I think the exact type of your coin is currently not in the catalogue

Hi - and thanks for your reply. It looks like there are a lot of variations. The graded coin https://www.ebay.com/itm/204779942660?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D265304%2C265803%26meid%3D5984ebec2959404793572e4ac71a2c0a%26pid%3D101224%26rk%3D4%26rk has the character GEP AC. I really hope that there are a synopsis anywhere that can verify the coin. I would like to know whether this coin is common or rare.

Of the characters you wrote, the top ones are the Greek numerals ΗϘΡ. These stand for 8, 90 and 100 respectively, and when added together give the year 198. Years are based on the common era of Arados, which began in 259 BC when it became an independent city within the Seleucid Empire, so this gives a date of 62-61 BC.

The middle symbol is the Phoenician letter bet (𐤁), and the last two are Greek ΑΝ. I'm not sure if it's known what these stand for. These letters seem to vary on different examples of the same type of coin.

By the way, the eBay coin you linked to actually has ΕΞΡ as the date, and not GEP.

Thank you very much for the information. I really appreciate your contribution to solve my questions.  The date looks like M, a mirror of P and P. Do the letters AN make this coin rare or are there a lot of variations resulting that none of them are rare?

When I first looked at your coin, I did initially interpret the date as Μ and a variation of Π or π. But these have values of 40 and 80, which don't make sense as a date. However, qoppa (Ϙ) can look like a 9 when written, and so I think it makes much more sense to interpret the date as ΗϘΡ (Arados year 198, equivalent to 62-61 BC).

I'm not an expert on Hellenistic coins by any means, but the coin type definitely doesn't seem to be rare. Dr. Jules Rouvier describes many coins of this type in his 1900 catalogue “Numismatique des villes de la Phénicie”, starting on page 45. If you go to #331 on page 53, you will find your coin. Given that Dr. Rouvier had two examples in his own collection, with others attested elsewhere, I would say yours is not a rare variant. It's #332 of the same year with last line ΑΣ which might perhaps be less common. (Note that there are some typographical errors in the catalogue, giving incorrect year dates. For example, #285 should be Arados year 169, and #287 should be year 171.)

There's also a 2008 ebook “Arados hellénistique : étude historique et monétaire” by Frédérique Duyrat, which you could perhaps check out if you want to know more. Unfortunately, like Dr. Rouvier's catalogue, you'd need to be able to read French.

If you'd like to look at some other coins of the same type, here's a few. Or just do a Google search for ΑΡΑΔΙΩΝ Tyche coin.

Art Institute Chicago, 95-94 BC

Art Institute Chicago, 80-79 BC

Cornell Coin Collection, 64-63 BC

CoinArchives.com

Hi Wacko

Thank you again for sharing your knowledge. I'm sure you are right i your consideration relating to this coin. I will follow the links and try to learn more. 

Kind regards

Krax59