JUDAEA, Bar Kokhba War. 132-136 CE. Large Bronze (Bronze, 34 mm, 21.46 g, 12 h), regular coinage. Uncertain mint, Year 2 = 133/4 CE. 𐤉𐤓𐤅/𐤔𐤋𐤌 ('Jerusalem' in Paleo-Hebrew) within wreath tied with a medallion at the top and tendrils at the bottom. Rev. 𐤔𐤁 𐤋𐤇𐤓 𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 ('Year 2 of the Freedom of Israel' in Paleo-Hebrew) Amphora with two handles. Bromberg I 231 (same dies). Hendin 6432 (same dies). Meshorer, AJC, 38 (same dies). Mildenberg 18.7 (this coin, O5/R12). Samel 2379 (same obverse die). Shoshana I 20320 (same dies). Sofaer 60 (same dies). Very well centered, with an exceptionally complete obverse and a remarkably fine depiction of the amphora on the reverse, surely among the finest known. Traces of old cleaning on the obverse and with minor areas of weakness and adjustment marks on the reverse, otherwise, good very fine.



The large bronze coins of Simon Bar Kokhba impress both with their relative rarity and their size, effectively constituting Jewish sestertii. They were minted in Year 1 and Year 2 of the revolt, with the latter being attested in various variants - the wreaths differ, and the obverse legend changes from 'Jerusalem', as on our example, to 'Simon' on Mildenberg 19. Mildenberg also emphasizes that of the only twelve known reverse dies, 'the last...' , which is the one on our coin, '... is the best by far, perhaps the most beautiful design in the entire Bar Kokhba coinage' (Mildenberg p. 47).

Interestingly, nearly all known examples from this die pairing (O5/R12) exhibit substantial flan cracks. Since these coins were most likely overstruck on Roman sestertii or provincial bronzes, it appears that the mint did not heat the host coins sufficiently when using this particular die pair, with the result that most split during striking. Our specimen is an unusual exception: apart from a few minor edge cracks, the flan is entirely intact.