108 / 120
226
Judaea, Bar Kokhba Revolt. Æ Medium Bronze (12.10 g), 132-135 CE. Undated, attributed to year 3
(134/5 CE). ‘Simon’ (Paleo-Hebrew), seven-branched palm tree with two bunches of dates. Rev. ‘For the
freedom of Jerusalem’ (Paleo-Hebrew), vine leaf on tendril. (Mildenberg 142 (O11/R106); TJC 289;
Hendin 1437).
Extremely rare - only two specimens cited by Mildenberg.
A lovely example with a nice dark
green patina. Extremely fine.
$ 500
Purchased privately, July 2005.
Rare “Eleazar” H-1438 Small Bronze
227
Judaea, Bar Kokhba Revolt. Æ Small Bronze (5.61 g), 132-135 CE. Undated, attributed to year 3 (134/5
CE). ‘Eleazar the priest’ (Paleo-Hebrew), seven-branched palm tree with two bunches of dates. Rev. ‘For the
freedom of Jerusalem’ (Paleo-Hebrew), bunch of grapes with branch and small leaf. (Mildenberg 155 (O4/
R4); TJC 300; Hendin 1438). Dark green patina. Extremely fine.
$ 1,500
ex Goldberg 48 (16 September 2008), lot 1882
ex Israel Archaeological Center 41(2 October 2007), lot 87.
This undated small bronze attributed to the third year (134/5 CE) of the Bar Kochba War is an oddity in that it mules an earlier
obverse die naming Eleazar the priest of the first year (132/3 CE) with a third year reverse. As other known silver and bronze hybrid
issues reveal, the main mint of the Bar Kochba rebels retained at least some of its earlier dies for reuse in subsequent years, perhaps
to fill in a gap between the beginning of the new year and the completion of new obverse dies to pair with the new reverse dies of
the year.