Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co. KG
Auction 334 17 Mar 2020
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Roman praefecti, 6-66.
Valerius Gratus, 15-26. Æ-Prutah, year 3 (=16), JerusalemEE; 1,95 g. IOY / ΛΙΑ in wreath//Three stylised lilies flanked by L – Γ (in the 3rd year [of Tiberius]). Hendin no. 1335b; Kokkinos –; Meshorer, Treasury 257 no. 324.
Obv. slightly struck off-centre; rev. a beautiful depiction of lilies, very fineδδδδδδOverbeck – Meshorer no. 216.
The lily is an old Jewish symbol which was already used as a coin image by John Hyrcanus and Alexander Jannaeus. The shoshannah could be understood as a symbol for Israel, cf. Romanoff 45-51; Meshorer, Treasury, 34 f. Taylor 2006, 558 points out that Greeks and Romans linked this flower with Hera or Juno with whom the empress Livia was associated. Therefore, the lily's polysemy made such a coin image eligible also for the Romans.
Valerius Gratus, 15-26. Æ-Prutah, year 3 (=16), JerusalemEE; 1,95 g. IOY / ΛΙΑ in wreath//Three stylised lilies flanked by L – Γ (in the 3rd year [of Tiberius]). Hendin no. 1335b; Kokkinos –; Meshorer, Treasury 257 no. 324.
Obv. slightly struck off-centre; rev. a beautiful depiction of lilies, very fineδδδδδδOverbeck – Meshorer no. 216.
The lily is an old Jewish symbol which was already used as a coin image by John Hyrcanus and Alexander Jannaeus. The shoshannah could be understood as a symbol for Israel, cf. Romanoff 45-51; Meshorer, Treasury, 34 f. Taylor 2006, 558 points out that Greeks and Romans linked this flower with Hera or Juno with whom the empress Livia was associated. Therefore, the lily's polysemy made such a coin image eligible also for the Romans.