The Fall of Jerusalem

436, Lot: 350. Estimate $500. Sold for $900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SELEUCIS and PIERIA, Antioch. Vespasian. AD 69-79. AR Tetradrachm (24mm, 14.90 g, 12h). Dated “Holy Year” 3 (AD 70/1). AVTOKP [KAIΣ] OVEΣΠAΣIA, laureate head right / [IEPOV] ETOVΣ Γ (date), eagle standing left on palm frond, with wings spread, holding wreath in beak; club to left. Prieur 130; McAlee 352; RPC II 1964. VF, uneven tone. Rare.

From the Michel Prieur Collection.

The date “Holy Year” 3 coincides with the fall of Jerusalem in August of AD 70. It is has been suggested that these tetradrachms were struck at Caesarea Maritima (see RPC II p. 276; McAlee p. 173; Butcher p. 72).