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Message:: [QUOTE="kaparthy, post: 28061, member: 57463"]1.  Before you buy any coin, start with the literature and the books.  The late Aaron Feldman is often quoted: "Buy the book before you buy the coin." The recommendations you got here so far are not bad.  The area is very broad and very deep.  You need to look around before you spend money. The book you need is   Guide to Biblical Coins   by David Hendin (values by Herbert Kreindler) 4th Edition. 2001. (About 10 years ago, I attributed a couple hundred Judaean coins for a dealer who had purchased a bulk lot.  I am pretty good with languages, but had never done Hebrew coins, so I worked with a Baptist minister from my local coin club.  This was one of the few times that I did not write an article based on an effort like that.  It is a pretty complicated area for me, and one that is well-developed by others.) You should also investigate a subscription to The Celator.  The Celator (<a href="http://www.celator.com" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.celator.com" rel="nofollow">www.celator.com</a>) is the monthly magazine for ancient coins and Judaica is a very important part of that.  The magazine's 100 advertisers are a great place to start shopping. 2. Among the many fine dealers in these areas are:Bill Rosenblum<a href="http://www.rosenblumcoins.com/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.rosenblumcoins.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.rosenblumcoins.com/</a>and Jonathan Kern<a href="http://www.jkerncoins.com/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.jkerncoins.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.jkerncoins.com/</a> You can find others by starting at the ANA website (<a href="http://www.money.org" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.money.org" rel="nofollow">www.money.org</a>), and using the searches under Money Market Dealers.  The ANA Code of Ethics puts a safety net under you.  Also, some of these ANA dealers are also members of the Professional Numismatists Guild and the International Association of Professional Numismatists, which also provides you with some assurances. As for that 3000 years of history, we make the broad claim that coins were invented about 650-600 BC, which was during the Babylonian Captivity.  Technically, Judaean coinage only begins after Alexander the Great.  Also, the commandment against "graven images" limited exactly what came from a "Jewish" mint.  (Four kingdoms, a "pentopolis," etc., etc.) However, the coins and banknotes of modern Israel include many commemorative issues that will allow you pin-point some of those archaic events. Also, the common advice is to buy the hardest finds first.   Perhaps the hardest to find are the earliest "Yehud" issues struck under the Persians.  These do, of course, alter the easy claim that there were no Judaean coins before Alexander.  Obviously, not everyone was locked up in Babylon. The coins of the Second Revolt (Masada, Bar-Kochba, and all that) are the ones everyone wants.  The small coppers of the Hasmoneans ("Maccabees" to some of us) are easy to find, and are inexpensive, but do constitute a plentiful array of types. So, you won't get them all, but you can cover the history from the Refounding of the Temple to the Roman occupation pretty easily. That brings up another problem:  Judaea Capta -- Roman coins of the Flavians emperors who reduced Jerusalem.  You might want one; you might not.  It goes good next to a Bar Kochba shekel. [/QUOTE]

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