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14C080 "Half a Shekel," chalice / "Jerusalem the Holy," stem with three fruits. Kadman pl. 3, 30 (same dies). TJC 209 (same dies). Hendin 666. Extremely Rare. Fourth example known. The Year 4 coinage was struck at a time when the Romans had temporarily sus-pended their operations against Jerusalem. The coinage of this year was instead impacted by factional strife within the city, according to a new study of the Jewish War coinage by Isadore Goldstein and Jean-Philippe Fontanille, in ANAJ Vol. 1, No. 2 (Summer 2006). The Year 4 bronze coinage, with face values of a half, quarter and eighth, was minted by Simon bar Giora, leader of the Sicarii, who took control of most of Jerusalem in April of 69 C.E. The Temple precincts and treasury remained under the control of the Zealots, who continued the production of silver shekels and half shekels, but on a much reduced basis. The half shekels of Year 4 are enormously rare: Goldstein and Fontanille report only three examples, at least one of which is in a public collection. The figures for the preceding three years of the revolt indicate that half shekels were the first coins to be minted every year and that they were produced in very stable numbers, in order to provide for the payment of Temple dues. Full shekels came next and were issued in varying numbers to meet the needs of the Temple treasury. The drastic drop in pro-duction of the half shekel in Year 4 must reflect the deepening of hostilities within Jerusalem and the small number of Jews who still had access to the Temple. The half shekels of Year 4 were struck from three obverse and two reverse dies. Our coin is from the same dies as the British Museum specimen, O1/R1 on the Menorah Coin Project website. Ex private European collection. |
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