Era date 208 (CH) was as far as we know the last year these coins were produced and is the only coin to bare Greek lettering instead of the usual Phoenician dating system found on earlier coins. One can almost sense the Aradians despair while they attempted to hold on to their traditions, hence the Phoenician letter qoph to the left above the battering ram. To date only two coins have been documented so understandably i am very pleased to be adding a third coin which will hopefully help broaden our understanding of this type. The obvious lack of detail with era date 208 can be clearly seen when comparing older coins in this series, i.e Zeus, ships ram and overall general appearance.
The coin seen below has been overzealously cleaned by one of it´s previous owners but nevertheless an important coin and one that i am overjoyed to own. Interestingly there was a gap in production spanning 76 years from 126/25 B.C to 52/1 B.C, if production continued during this period then hopefully at some point coins will be found that will fill in a few of the missing era dates.
Aradian era date 208 CH (52/1 B.C), Qoph
New coin can be seen in bold text below (2185b).
2184 *D265-R361, Berlin, SM, Löbbecke (1906). 2,68 g, 14,1 mm, 12 h. (Image 1 – Left)
2185 *D266-R362, New York, ANS 1944 100 70699 Newell. 2,42 g, 13,7 mm, 12 h. (Image 1 – right)
2185b *D267-R363, collection Rowe, AR-No.ZTR 208Q12-C (IA) . 2,85 g, 14,2 mm, 12 h. (Image 2)
Final attribution
Phoenicia, Arados 52-51 B.C
AE 14.02mm (Thickness 2.85mm), weight 2.85g, die axis = 12h (0 degrees), denomination C.
Obverse: Braided, bearded head of Zeus right, border of dots.
Reverse: Triple pointed ram of galley left, Phoenician letter qoph above, Aradian era date (CH) 208 below.
Coins Of The Southern Levant 