I was given a copy of Kenneth Bressett’s 2005 edition of Money of the Bible as a gift.

This is a large coffee-table style book that is filled with full color illustrations of biblical coins as well as  Holy Land scenes and illustrations.  Since it is only 114 pages long it is meant to be an introduction to the topic of money and its place in the Old and New Testament eras.  Many of the coins are greatly magnified to help one see the details but there are notes telling you what the approximate size would be.  I say approximate because each coin was minted individually so there will be a range of size and weight even though they were all meant to be the same.

Bressett’s book has two interesting lists of people. The first one was a  list of the Roman Emperors who were in power during the first century, complete with portrait coins for each emperor.  This series of emperors can make for an interesting collection with the most difficult one to obtain being coins of Otho since he was in power only for a few months.  I did recently find one at a reasonable price but after obtaining it I have reason to believe it is a counterfeit. I have sent it off to be authenticated and will have to wait and see what the reports say about the coin. When I get the answer I will of course report it here! 

The second list is that of the Procurators assigned in Judea up to the time of the First Revolt (circa 66AD). What is interesting with the Procurator list is that it names fourteen people who held this job. Usually you will find only six mentioned by ancient collectors because only six of them minted coins.  However, you never know what coins are yet to be discovered!

Ruler: Otho
Date: 69 AD
Demonination: Denarius
Obverse: Otho
Reverse: Pax