Vatican Library Coins - CBS Television 60 Minutes

[WilliamBoyd]

The CBS Television network ran their Sunday "60 Minutes" show this evening and had a 15-minute episode on the Vatican Library in Rome.

While a close-up of an ancient Greek Athenian "Owl" tetradrachm appeared, the narrator Morley Safer said:

"And there's a huge collection of ancient coins, including the money used in Palestine 2,000 years ago.
There are the kind of silver coins Judas was said to have been paid to betray Christ."

I do not know much about ancient Greek coins, but I thought that "owls" stopped being used before then.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/08/60minutes/main20052140.shtml

[Enodia]

i'm sorry i missed that.

however, the way you describe it doesn't sound like they were equating the Owl shown with the coins being discussed as of Palestinian origin or those associated with the bible, just a part of the same collection.
besides, i'm sure a hefty lump of silver would still be traded regardless.

~ Peter

[Danny S. Jones]

"Including" would be the key word here, not necessarily the coins being shown. With the Athenian owl and Syracuse tetradrachm, there were several other medallions and interesting coins, none of which were Judean that I can see. Of course, the Vatican has many, many more coins in it's collection than were shown here. Can anyone identify the rest?

[Gert]

See here for the medal of Byzantine emperor John VIII who paid a visit to Italy and caught the imagination of many Renaissance men.
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/cm/c/cast_bronze_medal_of_john.aspx
Regards
Gert

[Matt Inglima]

About all I can recongnize in the picture is the Nero sestertius.  For years I've heard people speculate on the hidden treasures of the Vatican.  It would be fun to wander through their storage houses. 

[commodus]

At far right is a Roman aes signatum ingot of the 3rd century BC.
The others which I can identify are, clockwise from noon:
?,
? (gold medallion),
?,
Nero sestertius,
?,
AE medal of Pope Alexander VII depircting Piazza San Pietro (1666),
? (gold), 
Euainetos decadrachm of Syracuse,
middle: the medal of Byzantine emperor John VIII discussed above.

[mihali84]

Never mind the storage house i could spend weeks sifting through the endless coin trays that are seen here completely surrounding the room from top to bottom! Unbelievable! And to think that they are never handled, admired, until something like this where a chosen few get the chance to shine, after who knows how long.

I wonder if they are catalogued? I would imagine so, it would be interesting to take a look through that list. 

[WilliamBoyd]

In the tray, the second coin from the top left appears to be the reverse of an
Athenian "Owl", probably the one whose obverse was shown in the episode.

[commodus]

In the tray, the second coin from the top left appears to be the reverse of an
Athenian "Owl", probably the one whose obverse was shown in the episode.

Ah yes! You're right -- I can see it now that you point it out.