If you are interested in what
Meshorer says concerning shekels of the first revolt, he says that,"The
fineness of the silver is high:98% Ag or more. In terms of
weight and silver content, these shekels were in effect a continuation of the
Tyrian shekels.", pg 119, A Treasurey of
Jewish Coins. On page 116 of the same chapter he indicates that the statement the Jews were making with these shekels was that for the first time there were
Jewish shekels for "...for all matters pertaining to the half-shekel tribute and other payments to the temple during the
Second Temple period"
Although it was not easy to detect subtley debased silver in
antiquity, there were ways. Firstly we know that in
Athens there were slaves whose job it was to detect
good silver coins, from
poor silver coins. I refer you to
Thomas Martin's article, "Coins and Slaves in
Athens",
Mnemata:Papers in Memory of Nancy M. Waggoner, pgs 21-48.
Livy 32.2 also records that quasetors
had ways of detecting debased silver that
Rome suspected the Carthaginians were using to pay their war indemity.
Pliny the Elder in
his,"Natural
History",book XXXIII, chapter 132, talks about a technique popularized by
Marius Gratidianus for detecting debased silver denari minted during Anthony's war with
Rome.
I almost must debate the statement that the Priest were supporters of
Rome, although they
had been to a point, they clearly joined the Revolt. I suggest a carefully reading of
Martin Goodman's book, "The Ruling Class of
Judaea".
It is true that we probably never will know who minted these coins, but in
Antiquity it was common to have the
mint located in or about Temples in
Greece. It is not a far stretch to hypothosis a similar senario in
Judaea.
I have enjoyed this discussion very much and would love to hear other peoples views as well