The New York Sale 2026 Ancient & World

Jewish War Æ Quarter Shekel, One of the World’s First Siege Coins

2x

2x

1104 Jewish War (AD 66-70). Æ Quarter Shekel (10.63 g), Year 4 (AD 69/70). ‘ Year four; quarter’ , two lulav bunches. Reverse: ‘ To the redemption of Zion ’, etrog. Hendin 6397. Well-struck and unusually well centered. Good Very Fine.

$2,000

Ex ‘Samel Collection of Jewish Coins and Medals’, Künker Auction 334, Osnabruck, March 17, 2020, lot 2277

By the final year of the Jewish War (April 69-March 70 AD), the Roman forces under Titus had gained the upper hand and the Jewish rebels were in a desperate state. Supplies in Jerusalem were near dried up, while the rebel leaders, vying for power, propelled the rebellion into violent rifts and bloody internecine strife. The introduction of large bronze denominations in this time reflects its turmoil. Silver was very difficult to obtain in the Holy City -- silver denominations from this disastrous year, not surprisingly, are very rare. Josephus even depicts for us a scene of inhabitants so desperate that they took to swallowing their silver and gold. The silver shortage also caused a huge drop in the number of Shekels and their fractions available for the temple tax. Numismatically, the result of all this was what has been called the world’s first ‘siege coins’. With legends denoting them as ‘half’ and ‘quarter’ (along with a smaller coin without an inscribed value, but likely one eighth Shekel), these large bronze issues served as fiduciary tokens, filling in the gaps in the rebel currency system as the disastrous end of the war loomed near.

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