160, Lot: 362. Estimate $100. Sold for $157. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISLAMIC, Umayyad Caliphate. Circa 695-750. Æ Fals (14mm, 2.20 g). Jerusalem mint. Candle stick on tripod base / Three line legend; crescent. SNAT 29; Barag, INJ 10, type 4; Walker, Arab-Byzantine 605. VF, dark green patina.

An unusual figural bronze struck in Jerusalem by the new Islamic rulers, with a clearly Jewish motif. The type was early-on identified as a menorah, although as Barag points out in his article, only one rare variety has a true representation of the menorah with seven arms and a flat base. The object on this piece actually tends to resemble the Omer (offering) cup depicted on the silver coins of the First Jewish War, with a rounded bowl (albeit ribbed rather than plain), a knobbed stem and footed base. We may have two different objects represented, both related to Jewish Temple ritual. The Jewish inhabitants of the new Arab province of Bilad as Sham (Palestine) got along tolerably well with their new Islamic rulers, having a common enemy in the implacably hostile Christian Byzantine empire. And the early Ummayad calpihs were obviously willing to allow the expression of Jewish religious symbolism.