Honestly, that is the first thing that popped in my head... Anyways, about a month ago I won 4 different 10-coin lots and 8 of the coins in each of the lots were Judaean. This isn't my area of collecting, and the other 2 coins in each lot were the ones I was bidding on. Well, I've got 32 Judaean prutahs now. Being as though I knew nearly nothing about them, I reached out to our own @Deacon Ray for some help and he graciously agreed and helped get me started with ID-ing about half of them. So here they are... I was trying to find an efficient way of capturing them and their rough information (being as though there are 32 of them). The group actually spans a decent amount of history and events, and 8 procurators during the Republic and under different emperors (including Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero) - one even captures the name of Britannicus on it! Do you know which? Do you have more to add to the story of these coins? Do you have some of your own to share?
Nice lot! In the 2 plus years I've been collecting, prutahs have been on my want list and I still haven't pulled the trigger on one. Maybe in the new year. Wild guess for Britannicus is 1150
I like the organized presentation of the lot. Britannicus is named on the one from Antonius Felix (procurator under Claidius - his father). H1348. Obverse: Inscription (Nero Claudius Caesar) around two crossed oblong shields and spears Reverse: BPIT (Britannicus) above six-branched palm tree, bearing two bunches of dates; date (year 14 = 54 C.E.) in fields
These are out of my collecting area, but I have some prutot to share. I have attributed these to the best of my ability, but they may be in error. If you notice an error, please let me know: Judah Aristobolus I, 104-103 BC. Judean Æ Prutah, 1.84 g, 13.4 mm. Jerusalem mint. Obv: Hebrew inscription "Yehudah the High Priest and the Council of the Jews" surrounded by wreath. Rev: Double cornucopiae, pomegranate between horns. Refs: Meshorer TJC Group U no. 4. Alexander Jannaeus (Yehonatan), 103-76 BC. Judean Æ Prutah, 2.25 g, 13.8 mm. Jerusalem mint. Obv: Hebrew inscription "Yehonatan the High Priest and the Council of the Jews" surrounded by wreath. Rev: Double cornucopiae, pomegranate between horns. Refs: Meshorer Group P; Hendin 1144. Alexander Jannaeus (Yehonatan), 103-76 BC. Judean Æ Prutah, 1.85 g, 13.7 mm. Jerusalem mint. Obv: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΛΕΧΑΝΔΡΟΥ around anchor. Rev: Star of eight rays between which Hebrew legend, "Yehonatan the King," all surrounded by diadem. Refs: Meshorer Group K; Sear 6087; Hendin 1150. John Hyrcanus II, 67 & 63-40 BC. Judean Æ Prutah, 2.11 g, 13 x 15 mm. Jerusalem mint. Obv: Hebrew inscription "Yehonatan" surrounded by wreath. Rev: Double cornucopiae adorned with ribbons, pomegranate between horns. Refs: Meshorer group S. Note: This entire issue was overstruck on Alexander Jannaeus' lily/anchor coins. Antonius Felix, Procurator under Claudius, AD 52-60. Judean Æ Prutah, 2.42 g, 17.2 mm. Caesaria mint, AD 54. Obv: ΙΟΥΛΙΑ ΑΓΡΙΠΠΙΝΑ (Julia Agrippina, wife of Claudius) within a wreath tied at the bottom with an X. Rev: ΤΙ ΚΛΑΥΔΙΟC ΚΑΙCΑΡ ΓΕΡΜ, two crossed palm fronds, LΙΔ (year 14) below. Refs: Hendin 651; Meshorer TJC 342. Porcius Festus, Procurator under Nero, AD 59-62. Judean Æ Prutah, 2.51 g, 16.2 mm. Caesarea mint, AD 58-59. Obv: NЄPѠNOC in 3 lines, surrounded by wreath. Rev: Palm branch surrounded by KAICAPO, LЄ (year 5). Refs: Hendin 653; Meshorer TJC 345.
Nice variety in that lot! Let's see some individual close up pics. These can be pretty rough. Here are some of my nicer ones KAICAPOC (Caesar) date LC (year 5 = 58 CE), palm branch NEP WNO C (Nero) in wreath tied at the bottom with an X; Caesarea mint 59-62 CE Reference: Hendin 653, SGIC 5627. Alexander Jannaeus AE Lepta/Prutah obverse Star of eight pellets within diadem, המלך יהונתן(King Alexander) reverse ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ around anchor. 0.94g Judea Herod Agrippa I AΓΡI ΠA BACIΛEWC King Agrippa umbrella canopy with fringes Three ears of barley between two leaves flanked by date L - ς (year 6). Jerusalem Mint 41-42 AD Bronze Prutah Hendin 1244
@Sulla80 that looks GREAT! I love that you put the dates in there too! And you got the Britannicus reference! Here's some close ups of the half in the exact format I sent to DR. I hadn't received the other half at that time so I'll need to take close up photos of those soon. I really like letter E, the anchor looks like a lightning bolt. And like RC, there may be some missattribution in there... Especially the cornucopia/legend in wreath variety since I don't know the styles as well nor do I read Hebrew.
Judea Herod Agrippa I Grandson of Herod the great and client king to Rome, also called "Agrippa the Great". Obv: AΓΡI ΠA BACIΛEWC (of King Agrippa), fringed, umbrella-style canopy Rev: Three ears of barley springing out of two stylized leaves, flanked by date L[-]S (Year 6 = 42/43 CE). Jerusalem Mint Bronze Prutah Hendin 1244 In this example the leaves are fairly faint.
I have four currently, all of which I attributed to Alexander Jannaeus, along with the wording "Yenohatan the high priest".
Great post and great work, @Justin Lee ! Your post is very inspiring. I've always found the coins from the time of Jesus to be particularly fascinating. Here are my Gratus period coins.
That’s a superb assortment of Judaean prutot, @Jason NZ ! Some very nice Herod Agrippa period pieces are among them
