Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Half Unit
| Issuer | Sabaean Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 1-100 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | CAF#1.12ii, Huth#299 |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Owl standing three-quarters facing, with wings closed, rendered in the South Arabian imitative tradition derived from the Athenian tetradrachm prototype. A solar disc with radiating rays appears above the owl's head. To the left of the owl, the Sabaean letter aleph is visible, and to the right stands an olive sprig or branch. An additional South Arabian letter or symbol is present in the lower left field. The entire design is enclosed within a plain border, with vestiges of an Ancient South Arabian inscription along the outer periphery. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Sabaean kingdom, centered on the ancient city of Marib in modern Yemen, drew its wealth from controlling the overland incense trade routes connecting the Arabian interior to Mediterranean markets. These small gold fractions circulated in an economy where frankincense and myrrh moved in quantities that made precise fractional coinage commercially necessary.
Huth's classification of this type places it among the later autonomous issues, after Sabaean coinage had absorbed Hellenistic influences filtering south through Nabataean and Parthian trade contacts.