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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;David Atherton, post: 3422649, member: 82616&quot;]Your eighth shekel is my favourite piece on your display. Why is that? Well, because the Year four bronzes are intriguing. The legend change from the Year 2 and 3 &#039;freedom of Zion&#039; to Year 4 with &#039;for the redemption of Zion&#039; is fascinating. Does it imply a note of increasing desperation on the rebel&#039;s behalf as Meshorer believes? Much scholarly ink has been spilled trying to work it out. The fact that fractions of the shekel were struck in bronze and not in silver during Year four may indeed hint at increasing dire straits for the rebels. Reinach thought &#039;all the reserve of silver and gold, formerly hoarded in the treasury of the Temple, had been exhausted by necessities of war.&#039; And Kadman and Meshorer believe there is a direct connection with the striking of the bronze shekel fractions and the lack of Year 4 silver shekels, hinting that there was a lack of available silver.</p><p><br /></p><p>A lot of history crammed into such a little bronze![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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