Blundered Mintmark

The following coins of Arados were struck between 115-113 B.C (era date 145-146) and belong to série 7, 8 & 10. For those of you acquainted with the Phoenician alphabet and in particularly that of Arados, the letters highlighted in the image below will appear extremely unusual (No.1-4). Coins struck two years prior and after show no signs of irregularities, as a reference i have added two samples of these coins to the image below (No.5-6) [1]. If we begin with the highlighted letters on coins 1 to 4, at first glance they seem to resemble beth & nun but mirror imaged. I suppose one could possibly categorise these letters has being blundered, but perhaps there is a more logical explanation for this oddity [2]. After checking reference books and the coins in my collection for similar formed letters, no coins struck before or after the aforementioned dates were found. I then began to think along the lines of travelling engraver, someone specifically brought in to produce dies for the three series mentioned above [3]. This idea prompted me to look further afield and so i started comparing the Sidonian and Tyrian alphabets.

Highlighted letter right, nun ?

After many hours of studying the numerous varieties of lettering, i found one version of the Sidonian letter nun which was almost identical but written with the usual rotation. The second was the Tyrian letter sadhe, also extremely similar with a rotation closely matching that of coins 1-4.

Highlighted letter left, beth [4] ?

Towards the end of G.Hills introduction to BMC Phoenicia are the alphabets of all the major Phoenician cities, listed under the city of Tyre is a mirror imaged letter resh [5].

On certain bronze issues of Sidon there is a version of samekh that should also be considered as a possibility.

On page 69 of Duyrat 2005 (Arados Hellénistique), the author of the book understandably questioned both of these disputed letters but could not decipher their meaning [6].

Series 7,8 & 10 in Duyrat 2005 are numbered as follows;

série 7 – No.2447-2455 / série 8 – No.2542-2543 / série 10 – No.4383-4386.

In my opinion the chances of blundered lettering occurring on all three series over a period of two years is highly unlikely, unless it was intentional and included as part of a makers/engravers mark.

I feel these coins will inevitably remain a mystery but hopefully in the not too distant future, i will have the opportunity to study the BNF coins in hand at the Paris Museum.

For the purposes of attribution, i have opted for the following combination of letters, mem, yodh, taw & sadhe. I made this decision purely on gut feeling and for want of a better solution.

[1] No other issues spanning the Persian or Hellenistic period of Arados have similar letters on them.

[2] If the letters were blundered, why didn´t the city leaders stop the production of coins after era date 145 coins were issued ?

[3] Possibly someone from the Aradian dependences or elsewhere in Phoenicia.

[4] We can almost certainly discount a blundered or mirror imaged beth, below the era date on coin 3 is a perfectly formed letter beth in combination with the disputed letter.

[5] I feel this option needs to be overlooked, see tail of disputed letter on coins 1-4.

[6] The letters reference in Duyrat 2005; M, Y, N?, S[ts]? or mem, yodh, nun & sadhe.