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ANA Signature Sale 3101 25-28 Aug 2022
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JUDAEA. The Jewish War (AD 66-70). AR shekel (22mm, 13.94 gm, 11h). Choice AU. Jerusalem or Masada, dated Year 5 (April-August AD 70). Shekel of Israel (Paleo-Hebrew), omer cup with pearled rim, the base resting on raised projections; Year 5 above / Jerusalem the Holy (Paleo-Hebrew), staff with three pomegranate buds, globular base. GBC 6, 6399b. GBC 5, 1370a. TJC 215a. Samuels 95 (same dies). Irregular issue. Crisply struck and perfectly centered on bright flan.
Ex Gemini, Auction 14 (18 April 2018), lot 297
The year 5 shekel ranks as likely the most storied coin in the Judaean series. Silver shekels dated to the fifth year were struck in the months just before Titus and his troops captured Jerusalem and burned the Temple in July of AD 70. It is probable that large numbers of these just-struck coins were melted down and the bullion carried back to Rome as part of the booty, which would eventually finance the Colosseum as well as other building projects. There were several year 5 shekels among the coins excavated at Masada, raising the possibility that the dies formerly employed at the Great Temple may have been smuggled out of the city and that at least some of the coins might have been struck at that remote mountain-top fortress. These coins continued in use until Masada fell to the Roman legions in AD 73 and the last defenders committed ritual suicide, an act of defiance that is still celebrated in Israel today.
In the mid-1980s, thirteen year 5 shekels, all heavily cleaned, were found in the vault of Baldwin's, a legendary London coin dealer. At the beginning of the twentieth century, an unknown person had marked the group as forgeries. However, the dies matched the previously-thought-to-be unique specimen in the British Museum collection (BM Palestine, p. 271,20), which had been acquired by the BM in 1887. Upon examination of the BM specimen, one observes that its reverse is covered by a thick layer of silver chloride. This type of corrosion is formed during a long period underground. This, plus the circumstances of acquisition of the BM specimen, not only seems to establish its authenticity, but also eliminates the possibility that the additional group of coins from the same dies were manufactured from it. Scanning electron microscopic studies of the entire group further established their authenticity (INJ 9, 1986-7, pl. 9,10). Optical microscopic examination of the coins shows specific manufacturing attributes that would not have been known to forgers of the nineteenth century when they were discovered. Ya'akov Meshorer acquired one of these specimens for the Israel Museum Collection, where it remains today.
While some professionals may refuse to definitively call them authentic, similarly no one can categorically condemn them as forgeries. This group of Year 5 shekels remains somewhat controversial today, though they are still traded regularly in the marketplace. From David Hendin's recently released 6th edition of Guide to Biblical Coins, "...some argue that the coins of the Baldwin's group were manufactured from contact dies created using the BM specimen. The British Museum Laboratory studied five Year 5 sheqels using XRF, and concluded 'there is no definitive reason to doubt the authenticity of this group of Year 5 sheqels.'"65
65. British Museum Research Laboratory, RL File No. 5415, 29 August 1986
https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/judaea/ancients-judaea-the-jewish-war-ad-66-70-ar-shekel-22mm-1394-gm-11h-choice-au/a/3101-34065.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-3101-08252022
HID02906262019
© 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 40000-50000 USD
JUDAEA. The Jewish War (AD 66-70). AR shekel (22mm, 13.94 gm, 11h). Choice AU. Jerusalem or Masada, dated Year 5 (April-August AD 70). Shekel of Israel (Paleo-Hebrew), omer cup with pearled rim, the base resting on raised projections; Year 5 above / Jerusalem the Holy (Paleo-Hebrew), staff with three pomegranate buds, globular base. GBC 6, 6399b. GBC 5, 1370a. TJC 215a. Samuels 95 (same dies). Irregular issue. Crisply struck and perfectly centered on bright flan.
Ex Gemini, Auction 14 (18 April 2018), lot 297
The year 5 shekel ranks as likely the most storied coin in the Judaean series. Silver shekels dated to the fifth year were struck in the months just before Titus and his troops captured Jerusalem and burned the Temple in July of AD 70. It is probable that large numbers of these just-struck coins were melted down and the bullion carried back to Rome as part of the booty, which would eventually finance the Colosseum as well as other building projects. There were several year 5 shekels among the coins excavated at Masada, raising the possibility that the dies formerly employed at the Great Temple may have been smuggled out of the city and that at least some of the coins might have been struck at that remote mountain-top fortress. These coins continued in use until Masada fell to the Roman legions in AD 73 and the last defenders committed ritual suicide, an act of defiance that is still celebrated in Israel today.
In the mid-1980s, thirteen year 5 shekels, all heavily cleaned, were found in the vault of Baldwin's, a legendary London coin dealer. At the beginning of the twentieth century, an unknown person had marked the group as forgeries. However, the dies matched the previously-thought-to-be unique specimen in the British Museum collection (BM Palestine, p. 271,20), which had been acquired by the BM in 1887. Upon examination of the BM specimen, one observes that its reverse is covered by a thick layer of silver chloride. This type of corrosion is formed during a long period underground. This, plus the circumstances of acquisition of the BM specimen, not only seems to establish its authenticity, but also eliminates the possibility that the additional group of coins from the same dies were manufactured from it. Scanning electron microscopic studies of the entire group further established their authenticity (INJ 9, 1986-7, pl. 9,10). Optical microscopic examination of the coins shows specific manufacturing attributes that would not have been known to forgers of the nineteenth century when they were discovered. Ya'akov Meshorer acquired one of these specimens for the Israel Museum Collection, where it remains today.
While some professionals may refuse to definitively call them authentic, similarly no one can categorically condemn them as forgeries. This group of Year 5 shekels remains somewhat controversial today, though they are still traded regularly in the marketplace. From David Hendin's recently released 6th edition of Guide to Biblical Coins, "...some argue that the coins of the Baldwin's group were manufactured from contact dies created using the BM specimen. The British Museum Laboratory studied five Year 5 sheqels using XRF, and concluded 'there is no definitive reason to doubt the authenticity of this group of Year 5 sheqels.'"65
65. British Museum Research Laboratory, RL File No. 5415, 29 August 1986
https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/judaea/ancients-judaea-the-jewish-war-ad-66-70-ar-shekel-22mm-1394-gm-11h-choice-au/a/3101-34065.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-3101-08252022
HID02906262019
© 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 40000-50000 USD