Haven't logged in for a couple of months. Have been doing a family genealogy search w/my grandson. This weekend my church pastor came by with some ancients. Knowing I'm a coinaholic, he reached out to me for help. He cleaned off residue on them with olive oil & q-tips and brought them over. Told him ancients were not my forte, but I would post pics he took. Maybe someone can ID some of them or give me an idea where he could look for resources to help ID his finds. Coin #3 & #4 only show one side, sorry. Thanks group coin #1: coin #2: coin #3: coin #4:
All four coins appear to be Judean issues, probably the prutah denomination. #1 and #4 are from the Hasmonean dynasty (c.140-37 BCE), these are sometimes known as "Widow's Mites" due to the Biblical story. They can be dated to specific kings based on the Hebrew inscription, which is unfortunately completely worn down on #1 and too worn for me to figure out in #4. #2 is under the Roman procurator Marcus Ambibulus (9-12 CE). #3 is either the First Jewish War (66-70 CE) or the Bar Kochba rebellion (132-135 CE). Not worth much in this condition (#3 is worth a bit more than the others), but very interesting and historical coins.
Thanks for the critique of my pastor's coins. I showed your post to him & he was pleased as punch with your assessments. He said he knew about widows mites, but never held one until this recent gifting of ancients by another parishioner. He knew about the rebellion & 1st Jewish War. Said he was going to read up on Marcus Ambibulus. Thanks again.
