I need help identifying this coin

I've tried for months to identify this coin. I'm hoping someone on this forum can help me...

 

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Looks like a tourist copy of a Jewish prutah?

 

See this link: https://www.webstore.com/item/Fanta...-Prutah-Marcus-Ambibulus-Not-Genuine/93583203 .

Not exact, but close enough in terms of style to likely be made by the same souvenir company...

 

I have something very similar. Perhaps a little bit older.

 

Yes, it is a modern copy of a Prutah of the time of Augustus under Procurator Annius Rufus. I have an original in my collection:

Procurator Annius Rufus, AD 12-15. Æ-Prutah, year 39 (=12)

KAICA-POC ([coin] of Augustus) ear of corn with notable awns (barleyEE)//L – ΛΘ (in the year 39 [of the reign of Augustus]) date palm with two clusters.
Mint: Jerusalem

 

Just for the fun of it. Here is Pontius Pilatus, who was Procurator from 26 to 36. The coin was minted in year 17 of Tiberius, i.e. in AD 30.

 

Need a selection for “fake”

 

Me2 have something similar but thought it was:

Judaea, Procuratorial. Marcus Ambibulus 9-12 C.E (dated year 39) AE
obv KAICA-POC, ear of grain curved to right / L-ΛΘ
Rev eight-branched palm tree bearing two bunches of dates. Hendin 1329; Meshorer TJC 313; RPC 4955

 

I had something similar long ago, but I sold it - I just don't have much of an interest in this time period, or this style of coinage.

 

I have all the Roman Procurators of Judaea. I think it is a nice little series with great historical appeal. I visited Jerusalem a couple of years ago. It is astonishing to see how many of these coins are on sale there. Unfortunately, the vast majority is of such low condition that they would no appeal to western collectors. The better ones tend to be overpriced. Nonetheless, I found a few that I liked and bought in lieu of a souvenir.

This one I bought in Jerusalem from an old Arab dealer. The purchasing process with tea and lots of talking was the real value.

Procurator Portius Festus (AD 59-62)

Year 5 of Nero = AD 58-59

 

@Tejas sounds like dealing/haggling with coin dealers in China. But you know, it is interesting and a cultural experience. For me, walking away when it looked like things were going south only started the whole process all over again with the price keeping south in my range. I picked up some early PRoC banknotes in original bundles at a fraction of their market value by sheer persistence.

 

I've never seen a prutah attributed to Annius Rufus.

Year 39 = AD 9. Marcus Ambibulus was Prefect from AD 9-12. (Annius Rufus served from AD 12-14.) Has new scholarship revealed something different?

Below is my Coponius, Hendin 1328, from AD 5/6...


This is my Ambibulus, Hendin 1329, from AD 9


And on a related note... See this interesting replica of the above coin:

 

My coin is from Künker Auction 334, lot 2181

Künker attributed the coin to Annius Rufus:

"Annius Rufus, 12-15. Æ-Prutah, year 39 (=12), JerusalemEE; 1,89 g. KAICA-POC ([coin] of Augustus) ear of corn with notable awns (barleyEE)//L – ΛΘ (in the year 39 [of the reign of Augustus]) date palm with two clusters. Hendin no. 1329; Kokkinos 94 fig. 7; Meshorer, Treasury 256 no. 313.
Heavier inscrustation; one casting spur partially preserved, nearly very fine

Overbeck – Meshorer no. 207.

Annius Rufus succeeded Marcus Ambivulus as Prefect of Judea in 12 AD. His tenure was apparently without incident since the only event that Josephus reports as occurring while he was in office is the death of Augustus in Rome in 14 AD. He was succeeded by Valerius Gratus in 15 AD."

 

I received the same "coin" in a letter from a Jewish charity earlier this year. Not old by any standard.

 

Interesting. That attribution is a teeny-tiny minority view. The RPC editors, David Hendin, Y. Meshorer, J.P. Fontanille, Alexander Wolfe, Isadore Goldstein, Mel Wacks and other experts uniformly cite this coin type to Ambibulus. And since the date on the coin itself is Year 39 (= AD 9) which corresponds to the reign of Ambibulus, I can't see how it could have been issued under Annius Rufus who didn't rule until 3 years later.

 

Yours are lovely.
Thanks for showing them to us.

While my little fragment of a coin is of low quality and the worst example posted in this thread, I like it very much. It was tossed into a lot of crusty ancient coins I purchased and it helped me learn something I had not known before.

It seems strange, since Ambibulus was Prefect from AD 9-12, that this coin is sometimes attributed as AD 8/9 instead of simply AD 9. But I am just learning and maybe there is a reason it appears attributed like that in more than one place.

 

Well, thank you kindly!

My first thought when I saw your example was to wonder if it had been halved to make a half-prutah of change. It's conceivable! Anyway, it is a cool piece, and has enough detail to attribute it!

Their "Year 39" included the last portion of AD 8 and the first portion of AD 9. So technically, Year 39 itself should be described as AD 8/9. However, based on what is known about (a) when Coponius died, (b) what coin type he issued and when it was issued, and (c) when Ambibulus gained the title, we can know that this coin type was produced beginning in AD 9 (iow: the latter potion of Year 39).

 

Ahhh... I see. Thank you. @philologus_1

 

That's a cool idea about the coin maybe having been halved.

Well, at least I can get close to an attribution. I was pretty sure it was Ambibulus -- but now, looking closely at your two examples and more closely at the the tree trunk and ΛΘ on my reverse, I think my fragment might be from a Coponius, Hendin 1328 (AD 5/6). I'll continue to compare my fragment to other specimens.

 

And THAT's the scarce Prefect! Congrats!

The date for Hendin 1328 is L-ΛϚ (Year 36) but some die engravers shaped the Ϛ into a squared off 'C' or a Γ. Yours is more of a true Ϛ.