The
NumisWiki entry identified by Joe is fantastic. I relied heavily on it when attributing and preparing my
gallery attributions of the following two coins that I recently posted to my
gallery:
John Hyrcanus I,
Hendin 456/ 1133;
Meshorer TJC Group G
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-159852and
Alexander Jannaeus,
Hendin 475/1146;
Meshorer TJC Group R
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-159976I also relied on
Hendin 4th edition and
Meshorer TJC. The
paleo-Hebrew letters in the Wiki can be cut and pasted into a Word document, which is very helpful.
I have purchased the few prutot that I own unattributed. My wife is amazed at the amount of time I spend studying these (and other) coins and preparing my
gallery attributions. But that is much of the fun of collecting.
Thank you, Jochen, for taking a
crack at my coin. Here is my thinking:
Yehohanan (
John Hyrcanus I) is six letters: YHW(HH)NN
Yehonatan (
Alexander Jannaeus) is also six letters: YHWNTN
The first three letters are identical.
FIRST ROW: The first row on the coin appears to contain three letters. Whether it reads Yehohanan or Yehonatan, those three letters should be the same, and should read YHW. I can make out the first letter on the right. It is a Y. Only the bottom portions of the other two letters are visible. I can’t see enough to confirm that they are HW, but the portions that are visible don’t exclude that possibility. I note that the example of
Hendin 1139/464;
Meshorer TJC Group E in the Wiki has a first line consisting of these three letters. Many of the
legend variations for this group that are listed in
TJC also have a first lines containing these three letters.
SECOND ROW: My tentative
attribution is essentially based on the second row. It appears to contain five letters, with the one on the right obscure. The visible four letters appear to be NNHK. If my interpretation of the first row and the balance of the second row is correct, the missing first letter in the second row is the (HH)=Ch. The Wiki states: “If you see two nun's in a row, (NN), the
king named is Yehohanan (
John Hyrcanus I).” I note that the example of
Hendin 1139/464;
Meshorer TJC Group E in the Wiki has a second line consisting of these five letters. Many of the
legend variations for this group that are listed in
TJC also have a second lines containing of these five letters. Significantly the shape of the letter He (H) is one of the defining characteristics of
TJC Group E, and the He in the second row is a clear match.
So far, I interpret the
legend as:
1. YWH (the beginning of either Yehohanan or Yehonatan)
2. [(HH)]NN (completing Yehohanan) H (the) K (first letter in priest)
THIRD ROW: The third row appears to contain seven letters. I have not yet worked my way through them yet.
FOURTH ROW: The fourth row appears to contain five or six letters. I have not yet worked my way through them yet.
FIFTH ROW: I see just three letters in the fifth row. They appear to be MDY (the last three letters in YHDYM (Jews), with the Y and the D transposed.
This is
still a
work in progress. Your thoughts -- anybody else’s -- would be appreciated.
Stkp
