A Group of Rare Inscribed Judaean Weights

393, Lot: 858. Estimate $750. Sold for $3750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Lot of inscribed limestone weights. Judaea, 9th-7th centuries BC. All dome-shaped with flat bases. Includes the following:

1. Shekel (20x18mm; 11.03g). Cf. Hendin, ASW 200; Qedar (MZ, XXXII), 22.
2) Nezef (19x18mm; 8.96g). Hendin, ASW 201.
3) Pym (18x15mm; 8.57g). Hendin, ASW 202.
4) Beqa (17x12mm; 5.56g). Hendin, ASW 204.
5) 5 Gerah (13x10mm; 2.63g). Hendin, ASW –; Qedar (MZ XXXII), 45.
6) 3 Gerah (10x9; 1.73g). Cf. Hendin, ASW 214

Some loss of material on weight no. 2, otherwise well-preserved and rare.

From the Herbert B. Stearns Collection.

A very interesting group of rare weights dating to the First Temple Period and inscribed in paleo-Hebrew. Such weights are of great interest not only due to the light they shed of the economic activity in Judaea at this time, but also because many are explicitly mentioned in the Bible. For further discussion and specific biblical references, see David Hendin, Ancient Scale Weights (New York, 2007), pp. 80-6.

A set of sixteen similar Judaean weights from the Brody Collection recently appeared at auction (New York Sale XXXIX, 10 January 2017), lot 1, where the group hammered at $10,000.