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Magnificent Quality Undated Bar Kokhba Sela
131
Judaea, Bar Kokhba Revolt. Silver Sela (15.33 g), 132-135 CE. Undated, attributed to year 3 (134/5
CE). ‘Simon’ (Paleo-Hebrew), tetrastyle façade of the Temple of Jerusalem; show bread table or Ark of the
Covenant in chest form with semicircular lid and short legs, seen from a narrow side; above façade, star. Rev.
‘For the freedom of Jerusalem’ (Paleo-Hebrew), lulav with etrog at left. (Mildenberg 56 (O13/R42); TJC
267; Hendin 1411). The outline of the head of Vespasian visible on the reverse. Lustrous.
Nearly mint state.
$ 5,000
Purchased privately from D. Hendin, February 1996.
A somewhat clear portrait of Vespasian, the father of Titus - the Roman conquerer of Jerusalem in 70 CE - can still be seen here
peeking through the Jewish types of this sela. The undertype is, of course, a Syrian provincial tetradrachm, and the effacement
caused by overstriking the host coin is symbolic of the Bar Kochba rebels’ desire to erase the stain of Roman oppression in Judaea.
Gorgeous and Very Rare Undated Bar Kokhba Silver Sela
132
Judaea, Bar Kokhba Revolt. Silver Sela (14.17 g), 132-135 CE. Undated, attributed to year 3 (134/5
CE). ‘Simon’ (Paleo-Hebrew), tetrastyle façade of the Temple of Jerusalem; show bread table or Ark of the
Covenant in chest form with semicircular lid and short legs, seen from a narrow side; above façade, star.
Rev. ‘For the freedom of Jerusalem’ (Paleo-Hebrew), lulav with etrog at left. (Mildenberg 83 (O12/R53);
TJC 267; Hendin 1411).
Extremely Rare - only two specimens cited by (Mildenberg.
Lustrous and lovely iri-
descent tone. As struck. Nearly mint state.
$ 5,000
Purchased privately, January 1999.