JUDAEA, Bar Kokhba War. 132-136 CE. 'Small Bronze' (Bronze, 16 mm, 1.43 g, 6 h), regular coinage. Uncertain mint. Undated, but attributed to Year 3 = 134/5 CE. 𐤔𐤌𐤏𐤅𐤍 (‘Šimʿon’ in Paleo-Hebrew) Seven-branched palm tree with two bunches of dates. Rev. 𐤋𐤇𐤓𐤅𐤕 𐤉𐤓𐤅𐤔𐤋𐤌 ('For the Freedom of Jerusalem' in Paleo-Hebrew) Grape bunch on vine. Bromberg I -, cf. 264 (same reverse die, but regular size). Hendin 6467a. Meshorer, AJC, 82b. Mildenberg 160 var. (O4/R10, but regular size). Samel -, cf. 2516 (same reverse die, but regular size). Shoshana I -, cf. 20507 (same reverse die, but regular size). Sofaer -, cf. 168-171 (regular size). Of the highest rarity and great numismatic interest. Overstruck on a prutah. Some deposits, otherwise, very fine.



The unusually small diameter and extremely low weight of just 1.43 g – compared with a normal weight of around 4-6 g – indicate that our coin was probably overstruck on a prutah. Hendin was aware of another such specimen, while Meshorer also records a coin as 'struck on small flan', although unfortunately without noting its weight (AJC 82b). These extremely rare pieces probably reflect a shortage of suitable coins for overstriking during the final phase of the war, when military pressure on the rebels was steadily increasing.

Evidently, by the third year of the revolt, Bar Kokhba’s regular mint, whose location remains unknown, was forced to overstrike even prutahs, despite their being far too small and light for the denomination being produced and the dies employed. These extremely rare Bar Kokhba overstrikes on prutahs are remarkable historical witnesses to the desperate final phase of the revolt, for, as already noted when our coin was first published in Leu 75 (1999), 1406, 'this unprepossessing piece very possibly represents the last issue of Jewish coins to be struck in a regular mint until the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.'.