Judea, Bar Kokhba Revolt. Silver Sela (15.34 g), 132-135 CE. Undated, attributed to year 3 (134/5 CE). 'Simon' (Paleo-Hebrew), tetrastyle façade of the Temple of Jerusalem; show bread table or Ark of the Covenant in chest form with semicircular lid and short legs, seen from a narrow side; above façade, star. Reverse: 'For the freedom of Jerusalem' (Paleo-Hebrew), lulav with etrog at left. Hendin 1411; Mildenberg 78 (O12/R61); TJC 267. Attractive greyish-violet tone with underlying luster. Overstruck on a Vespasian tetradrachm from Antioch. Superb Extremely Fine. Estimated Value $3,500 - UP
The undated sela'im were struck in the third and final year (134/5 CE) of the Bar Kokhba war, and although the types of the Temple and the lulav and etrog are continued, the coins are no longer dated "year 1" or "year 2 of the redemption of Israel" but instead carry the slogan "for the freedom of Jerusalem" on the reverse. The name of the holy city of Jerusalem no longer appears around the Temple (perhaps suggesting it was now out of reach) and is replaced by Bar Kokhba's first name Simon. The messianic vision was being shattered, and the coins convey this message in their own cryptic way.
Purchased privately from Stack's in the 1990s.