Ira and Larry Goldberg Auctioneers
Auction 100 5-6 Sep 2017
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Judaea, Bar Kokhba Revolt. Silver Zuz (3.47 g), 132-135 CE. Undated, attributed to year 3 (134/5 CE). 'Simon' (Paleo-Hebrew), bunch of grapes with leaf and tendril. Reverse: 'For the freedom of Jerusalem' (Paleo-Hebrew), elongated lyre with three strings. Hendin 1435; Mildenberg 139 (O11/R43); TJC 274. Lightly toned. Very Fine. Estimate Value $400 - 500
The Living Torah Museum, Brooklyn, New York.
The grape bunch and kinnor combination of this undated zuz continue types first introduced for the silver denomination in the second year (133/4 CE) of the Bar Kokhba War. Although this specimen is complete, some examples appear to have been cut in antiquity. Some commentators have considered the cutting to have been a means of invalidating the coins after the disastrous conclusion of the war while others have suggested that they simply represent an expedient for making change. Problematic for the invalidation theory is the fact that so few cut coins are known, but at the same time cut fractional coinage is also a great rarity in the ancient world once coin usage became firmly established.
The Living Torah Museum, Brooklyn, New York.
The grape bunch and kinnor combination of this undated zuz continue types first introduced for the silver denomination in the second year (133/4 CE) of the Bar Kokhba War. Although this specimen is complete, some examples appear to have been cut in antiquity. Some commentators have considered the cutting to have been a means of invalidating the coins after the disastrous conclusion of the war while others have suggested that they simply represent an expedient for making change. Problematic for the invalidation theory is the fact that so few cut coins are known, but at the same time cut fractional coinage is also a great rarity in the ancient world once coin usage became firmly established.