The New York Sale
Auction 39 10 January 2017
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ANCIENT JEWISH COINS, BAR KOKHBA, Judaea, Bar Kokhba Revolt. Silver Sela (14.32 g), 132-135 CE. Year 2 (133/4 CE). 'Jerusalem' (Paleo-Hebrew), tetrastyle façade of the Temple of Jerusalem; show bread table or Ark of the Covenant in chest form with semicircular lid and short legs, seen from a narrow side; above façade, +. Rev. 'Year two of the freedom of Israel' (Paleo-Hebrew), lulav with etrog at left. (Mildenberg 16 (O4/R10); TJC 230a; Hendin 1387). Extremely Rare - only one cited by Mildenberg. Lustrous superb extremely fine.
Purchased privately from I. Goldberg, September 1998.
This sela and the following six examples also represent the regular issues of the second year (133/4 CE) of the Bar Kokhba War. As with all sela'im, the reverse type depicts the lulav bundle and the etrog (citron). As discussed earlier this fruit and branch combination was used at the festival of Sukkot. While the Jerusalem Temple stood, the lulav and etrog were used only on the first day of the 7-day holiday. But after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, Rabbi Johanan ben Zaki said they should be used for each of the seven days of the festival in memory of the ruined Jerusalem Temple. Thus they both symbolized the tragic past and pointed to a possible messianic future.
Estimate: $ 7,000
Purchased privately from I. Goldberg, September 1998.
This sela and the following six examples also represent the regular issues of the second year (133/4 CE) of the Bar Kokhba War. As with all sela'im, the reverse type depicts the lulav bundle and the etrog (citron). As discussed earlier this fruit and branch combination was used at the festival of Sukkot. While the Jerusalem Temple stood, the lulav and etrog were used only on the first day of the 7-day holiday. But after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, Rabbi Johanan ben Zaki said they should be used for each of the seven days of the festival in memory of the ruined Jerusalem Temple. Thus they both symbolized the tragic past and pointed to a possible messianic future.
Estimate: $ 7,000