Ancient Rome Judea Bar Kochba Bronze (Eleazar) (Fakes are possible) 132AD to 135AD

One of the less fortunate reasons that this coin from Ancient Rome is so famous is that it is heavily counterfeited. The large images below show a side-by-side comparison of real and fake coins. Hope you have the real one. Counterfeits are worth zero.

According to the Handbook of Biblical Numismatics, this is a small bronze coin from the Roman province of Judea (where Jesus Christ lived) at the time of the second Jewish revolt (132 to 135AD) lead by Shim'on Bar Koseba, known as Bar Kochba, meaning Son of the Star. The coin in our primary photo (at upper left, not the real/fake comparison below) comes from Goldberg Coins and Collectibles where it sold for $350 US dollars in a 2007 auction. It would probably sell at a higher price today.

Very approximately, catalog values run like this:

GENUINE COINS:
worn: $200
average circulated: $400
well preserved: $900

These coins come with a date of either 'year 1' (132/133 AD), 'year 2' (133/134 AD), or 'year 3' (134/135 AD). It's written out in words in Hebrew on the reverse (the side with the bunch of grapes). The coin in our main photo (above) is dated to year 2. The genuine coin in our secondary photo (below, upper coin) is dated to year 1. If your coin has an inscription different from these, it's dated to year 3. Note that coins of different years also have a slightly different placement of the letters in the obverse (palm tree side) inscription, which can help to date the type of the reverse is hard to read.

Compare your coin to these images to determine the authenticity of your coin. The most obvious departure from genuine is the lettering.
cqLastNotify