JUDAEA, Bar Kokhba War. 132-136 CE. Zuz = Denarius (Subaeratus, 18 mm, 2.92 g, 6 h), regular coinage. Uncertain mint, Year 2 = 133/4 CE. 𐤔𐤌𐤏𐤅𐤍 (‘Šimʿon’ in Paleo-Hebrew) Grape bunch on vine with small leaf to left. Rev. 𐤔 𐤁 𐤋𐤇𐤓 𐤉𐤔𐤀𐤋 ('Year 2 of the Freedom of Israel' in Paleo-Hebrew) Palm frond curving slightly to left. Bromberg I 143 (same dies). Hendin 6423. Meshorer, AJC, 31a (same reverse die). Mildenberg 40 (O7/R12'). Samel 2417. Shoshana I 20303 (same dies). Sofaer 53 (same dies). Extremely rare as an overstrike on a plated coin. Minor breaks in plating and with traces of overstriking, otherwise, very fine.



This zuz is of particular importance because it was struck over a plated undertype. In a 1980 article, Hendin identified four such specimens (D. Hendin: Plated Coins of Bar Kokhba,, in: INJ 4 (1980), 34–37), while Mildenberg listed three more in his die study of the Bar Kokhba coinage. Such pieces were probably not intentional; rather, they testify to the unnoticed circulation of plated denarii or drachms in the everyday currency of Judaea at the time. More plated examples may originally have existed, but were presumably withdrawn whenever the plating was detected during striking.

On the present piece, the face of Trajan can be seen above the bunch of grapes, with the legend [...] CЄB ΓЄPM [...] visible beside it. On the reverse, a standing figure holding a bundle of cinnamon sticks can be discerned, namely Arabia as depicted on RPC III 4072-4075.This is all the more remarkable since plated drachms of Trajan from Bostra are very rarely attested; indeed, no such plated drachm is known to the present cataloguer.