An Exceptional Year Five Shekel

Triton XIX, Lot: 306. Estimate $200000. Sold for $300000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

JUDAEA, Jewish War. 66-70 CE. AR Shekel (22mm, 13.68 g, 12h). Jerusalem mint. Dated year 5 ([August] 70 CE). Omer cup; “Y[ear] 5” (date) in Hebrew above,“Shekel of Israel” in Hebrew around / Sprig of three pomegranates; “Jerusalem the holy” in Hebrew around. Meshorer 215; Kadman 45 (same obv. die as illustration); Hendin 1370 (same obv. die as illustration); Bromberg 389 (same obv. die); Shoshana I 20221 (same obv. die); Sofaer –; Spaer –. EF, lightly toned. Very rare, and among the finest known, far superior to those in CoinArchives.

From the David Hendin Collection, acquired in 1992 via an exchange with a European collector.

The storied shekels of the fifth year of the Jewish War are by far the rarest and most storied; according to the Menorah Coin Project, this is the thirteenth known year 5 shekel struck from the classic die sets, three of them were found at Masada. This coin was struck by obverse die 1 / reverse die 6, the same dies from which one of the year 5 shekels found at Masada were struck, No. 3597. (Y. Meshorer, “Coins of Masada” in Masada I, The Yigael Yadin Excavations 1963 - 1965 Final Reports [Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1989].)

Meshorer has written (TJC p. 130) that “The amazing fact with regard to the coins of the fifth year is that they were struck then, in the last four months of the Jewish War against the Romans. At that time the striking of bronze coinage came to a complete halt. In those trying days, normal activities such as commerce and the consumption of goods no longer took place in Jerusalem, and there was thus no need to continue issuing these coins. On the other hand, silver shekels were still an important factor in the Holy City on account of their ritual value. Fulfillment of the precept of paying the half-shekel tribute to the Temple was all important, and the shekels continued to be minted even in the fifth year of the war.”