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ANCIENT COINS
THE BRODY FAMILY COLLECTION OF JEWISH COINS
(PART I)
MARTIN BRODY, M.D.
I first met Dr. Martin Brody at a coin show in Miami Beach in the very early 1980s. According to Dr. Brody’s
memory, “That chance meeting peaked my Judaic interest in the coins of our ancestors, and I was hooked.” Dr.
Brody became a collector of ancient Judean coins par excellence.
While Dr. Brody did not publish numismatic articles, his studies and inquiries about the coins of the Persian
Period, the Hasmonean dynasty, the Jewish War, and the Bar Kokhba war were significant. He combined his love of
coins with his love of Jewish history and scholarship to create a dynamic focal point for learning and enriching his
knowledge.
I frequently consulted with Dr. Brody when writing about these coins, and, shortly after each edition of my book
Guide to Biblical Coins was published, I knew I could expect to receive an extensive critique, not only listing each
and every typographical error in English, Hebrew, or Aramaic, but some very interesting intellectual observations as
well. (I recently found in my files some correspondence from Dr. Brody dated to 2001—five single spaced type pages
in English, annotated with notes in both modern Hebrew and paleo Hebrew script.)
I always appreciated Dr. Brody’s taste and desire to own the best possible specimen of each coin type, and to squeeze
the maximum amount of information and historic memory from each coin he examined. Dr. Brody had patience
in his collecting, and was willing to wait for another day rather than to rush into buying a coin of inferior quality.
As one can quickly see from this catalog, Dr. Brody obtained coins from leading dealers and premier auction houses
over the past four decades, always seeking excellent quality and interesting variations.
During my 50 years as a student and writer about of the coins of ancient Judaea, I have encountered less than a
handful of collectors who I would consider true scholars of the time and place these coins were struck. Martin Brody
is certainly one of them.
--David Hendin 11/2016
Nearly every coin in the Brody Collection will be accompanied by a full page detailed
description. Including provenance date of purchase and cost.