TYRE SILVER SHEKEL – YEAR 105 VARIETY UNKNOWN TO COHEN – CHOICE VF NGC GRADED GREEK PHOENICIA COIN (Inv. 19796)

$3,000.00

19796. PHOENICIA. TYRE.
Silver Shekel, 14.21 g, 27 mm. Issue dated Tyre year 105 (22/1 BC).
Obv. Laureate head of Melkart right. Rev. ΤΥΡΟΥ ΙΕΡΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΣΥΛΟΥ, eagle standing left on prow, PE (date) above club in left field, ΘE control monogram in right field, Phoenician letter B between legs.
DCA Tyre Supplement Release 2, –, cf. 375–379 (with different control monograms).
NGC graded CHOICE VF, Strike 5/5, Surface 4/5.

There are five varieties of year 105 listed by Cohen, his nos. 375–379. He was unaware of a year 105 variety with control ΘE as on this coin. However, Cohen did know of ΘE used in the following year, 106 (21/0 BC), struck using the same obverse die as here. Therefore, it is clear that the control monogram ΘE was among the very last to be employed for year 105 and the first to appear in 106.