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

I obtained a first edition copy of David Hendin’s  2005 book,  Not Kosher, directly from him and as a bonus it was autographed! 

The book gives an overview of some of the known modern forgeries of ancient Jewish and Biblical coins.  It is important to make a distinction here.  The coins in this book are ones that were made recently and not to be confused with ancient counterfeit (fouree) coins which are quite collectible.  This book mostly presents coins that are copies of actual ancient coins but many fantasy coins are listed as well.  Fantasy coins are ones that someone created to look like they are authentic but do not match any known ancient coin. Each coin in the book is described in detail and there are numerous photographs. In some cases the coin has also been magnified to help see the details.

If you are dealing with a knowledgeable ancient coin dealer the topic of modern ancient forgeries will not surface. But if you find coins from another source, especially a person who is not familiar with ancient coins, problems can arise. There are coins that were made as museum gift shop replicas. These usually have the word COPY on them but of course that could be removed from the coin.   There are also coins that are made to deceive the buyer into thinking they are genuine.  Again the key is the source of your coin and the knowledge of the one selling it.  To help prevent some of these problems this book is a wonderful guide.

I was able to obtain a copy of Biblical Numismatics by Shirley Barr Page.  It was printed in 2001. In her introduction she notes that she became interested in Bible coins after reading Florence Banks’ book, Coins of Bible Days that I posted on 6/18/09.

This is a very large coffee-table style book that is filled with color photographs with each coin greatly enlarged.  It is divided into three sections: Old Testament Period; Intertestamental Period and New Testament Period.  The overall style is clear: a coin is presented and quickly described and then placed in historical context. Each coin becomes a story in itself so you can easily just jump around the book reading “short stories.” 

The first section – The Old Testament Period- also contains a section on artifacts.  You can see various oil lamps and stone shekel weights.  These items can often also be obtained through coin dealers at prices similar in range to what you would pay for ancient coins.  So if you begin a collection of Biblical Coins you can easily add an artifact or two without having to travel to Israel!

The Intertestamental Period- by making this a separate category it opens up a wide range of coins.  This section will contain Greek coins, Phoenician coins, Seleucid Kingdom coins and Ptolemaic Dynasty coins.  The depth of this section is a real highlight of this book because you get an understanding of the larger world at the time.

The New Testament Period- Here we have coins of the Herodian Dynasty, Procurators of Judea, the Roman Empire and the Revolt of the Jews coins. This section closes with coins in the lifetime of Jesus Christ. Following this last section there are a number of color plate pages showing even more examples of some of the coins already described.

I found a copy of A Handy Guide to Jewish Coins by Rev. Edgar Rogers on the Internet.  It was copyrighted in 1914 but the copy I have is a later reprinted edition from 1977.  I was able to obtain a hardcover copy for $35.

The book is both an interesting read and a catalogue of coin information.  Each chapter tells a little story about the era and the coins that go with it, for example, the Hashmonean Family (his spelling), the Herodian Family, Procurators, Second Revolt, etc.  There are photos of the coins in the back of the book.  Rogers is not neutral in style in presenting his options and more than once I smiled as I read him going off on his argument about a particular coin or a particular biblical word translation.

I should note that concerning at least one particular issue he was incorrect. I really cannot blame him because for many years a series of coins that are now attributed to the First Revolt (66-71 AD) were erroneously attributed by most authors as being the first Jewish coins minted (circa 164 BC). Rogers then takes on Theodore Reinach, who wrote a book called “Jewish Coins,”  who he says holds that these particular coins are to be attributed to the First Revolt and then gives a long series of reasons as to why Reinach has to be wrong.  Alas over time, it was discovered that these were First Revolt coins after all.

What I found most helpful about this book is the detailed information about the inscriptions found on the coins. With this handy guide you will be able to understand the individual letters of the Hebrew and Greek legends.  Together with detailed information about the symbols on the coins it is an impressive text and no wonder that it is still being reprinted.

I recently purchased a copy of A Numismatic Journey Through the Bible by Rev. Richard Plant.  It was copyrighted in 2007 .  There are no photographs in this book but instead there are plenty of illustrations of the various coins.  Also each coin drawing gives an estimated cost if you go seeking a “Very Fine” (VF) copy for your collection.  I was able to obtain a new copy of the book for $24.

This book is very broad in scope, meaning that it covers ancient, medieval and modern coins.  Even though the overall scope is massive the bulk of the book will focus on the New Testament era.  The 5th Chapter will take you on a walk through the lands of Galilee, Samaria, Judaea and the Decapolis with coins for each city mentioned.

What I found most helpful is that the author wants to help you actually read what is written on the coins. You will get an overview of the Hebrew, Latin and Greek alphabet as well as key words that will repeat on coins. Plus there is a section on how the “alphabet” is used as “numerals” so that we can understand the dates minted on many coins.

I found a copy of Coins and Christianity by Kenneth Jacob at a Coin Show.  It was first copyrighted in 1959 but the copy I have is a later “revised and enlarged”edition from 1985.  I kind of chuckled when I read that because the book is only 5″ x 7″  and 1/2″ thick, so I wonder what was its size before it was “enlarged? ”  I was able to obtain a new looking copy for $15.

This small book covers a lot of territory. It goes from the beginning of coinage right through to the modern era in 91 pages.  The focus of the book is to explore Christian symbols as they appear on coins throughout the centuries. Since there are no Christian symbols on coins until the Battle of the Milvian Bridge the Chapter on Coins of the Bible is rather short.  I personally am not focusing my collection on this later Roman era but if this is where your collection interests lie then this book is for you. 

I did find out that Biblical Coin coin collecting was very popular in the 16th century. At that time they misidentified the Jewish First revolt coins  (circa 66-71 AD) to have been from an earlier time period (136 BC).  They minted copies of the coins and told a story that these were the coins used to pay the 30 pieces of silver to Judas. They were popularly called the “Judas Pennies.”  They are crudely made so there is no fear today that these are still on the market and seen as “authentic.”

I found a copy of Coins of Bible Days by Florence Aiken Banks at a Coin Show.  It was copyrighted in 1955 but the copy I have is a later reprinted edition.  I was able to obtain a used copy for $20.

The book, though very small is very broad in scope. It starts with money issues before coinage and then walks you right through to the New Testament years.  It is a book that can be read cover to cover or just let each chapter tell you a story about one era in history and the coins used at that time. At the end of each chapter there are photos of some of the coins described in that section.

This book helped me to begin understanding the translation problems we have in the New Testament when it comes to coins. Translators have often chosen not to use the actual word found in the original Greek text because it could be confusing to the reader. Rather they will substitute words like “penny,” “mite,” “farthing,” etc, in an effort to help the reader move through the passage smoothly. However, over time, these English words also took on different meanings and as a result further confuse our understanding of the type coin(s) being talked about.

The back of the book contains a glossary that is helpful in understanding the pronunciation of many of the names of people,  cities, Greek & Roman gods/goddesses, etc, that one will encounter when dealing with coins from this time period. I now know that I have been mispronouncing the Emperor “Domitian” wrong for years!

This book, Coins of the Bible by Arthur Friedberg is readily available in different editions. The particular edition I purchased caught my eye because there are six replica coins embedded in the front cover of the book.  Since then I have also seen this book offered with a different style cover. I was able to get a used copy for $9.00.

Even though the title of the book is “Coins of the Bible” it really focuses on the New Testament era.  There is some mention of the money used before that time but primarily the text explores the coinage just before the time of Jesus, during his lifetime and then during the time the New Testament is being written.  There are plenty of photographs of coins to help the reader understand what is being explained in each section. 

What I found helpful from this book was the overview information about the various taxes that existed during this era.  I was familiar with the Temple Tax and the Tribute tax to Caesar but this I find was only the tip of the iceberg.  The overview given on this topic encouraged me to explore further this issue of taxation and all that the peasants had to face in their daily life.

Another issue that the book notes is that the Jewish Procurator coins do not use Roman denomination standards but rather the size and weight standards of coins minted in Judea. There is noted in the text one exception to this. The author calls the coins of the procurator Porcius Festus “quadrans” which is a Roman denomination. I have not found this particular reference to Festus’s coins as “quadrans” in any other book, but if it is true that these are truly “quadrans,” and not “prutahs,” then there was a significant shift in Roman policy in Judea at that time. I will keep an eye out for more information about this!