BAR KOKHBA REVOLT SILVER SELA – SUPERLATIVE YEAR 2 ISSUE AMONG THE HIGHEST GRADED IN THE NGC CENSUS – CHOICE MINT STATE NGC GRADED JUDAEA COIN (Inv. 19244)

$18,500.00

FPL VI, 59 (19244).                  AMONG NGC’S SEVEN HIGHEST GRADED SELAS

JUDAEA. BAR KOKHBA REVOLT, 132-135 CE.
Silver sela (tetradrachm), 14.77 g, 26 mm. Issue dated year 2 (133/4 CE).
Obv. “Simon” (paleo-Hebrew), facade of the Temple, ark with scrolls within, star ornament above. Rev. “Year two of the freedom of Israel” (paleo-Hebrew), lulav with etrog in left field.
Hendin 6th edition 6416; Mildenberg 42 (O11/R29).
Ex Richmond Collection.
NGC graded CHOICE MINT STATE, Strike 4/5, Surface 5/5, a coin with incredible luster and clarity of detail, one of the few sela that does not show any traces of overstriking. The lofty grade of Choice Mint State places this among the 7 currently highest graded selas in the NGC census (5 at CH MS, 2 at CH MS Star, with none higher). It should be noted that the lack of the “overstruck” notation for this coin makes it truly exceptional for the denomination.

The Bar Kokhba Revolt (ca. 132-135 CE) appears to have exploded in Judaea after Hadrian decided to rebuild the ruins of Jerusalem as the Roman colony of Aelia Capitolina, with the Jewish Temple now dedicated to Jupiter Optimus Maximus. Jewish rebels, led by the messianic figure of Simon Bar Kokhba, fought a long, bloody, and ultimately disastrous war against the Romans that was financed by a new purely Jewish coinage. The new coins, which included silver denominations like the sela and zuz described here, were produced in emergency conditions by overstriking locally-circulating Roman imperial and Roman provincial coins.