Posted on 12/10/2022 9:56:13 AM PST by SunkenCiv
The coin, the first of its type discovered in Israel, was minted by the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II, whose edicts led to the abolishment of the Sanhedrin Council and to the large-scale emigration of Jews to the Diaspora.
1,600 years after the edict of the Emperor Theodosius II led to the abolishment of the post of the 'Nasi,' the Head of the Sanhedrin, school pupils found a rare piece of evidence reflecting this dramatic moment in Jewish history.
In February 2019, four ninth grade students from the Haemeq Hamaaravi High School in Kibbutz Yifat in the Jezreel valley were orienteering in the fields alongside the Zippori stream in the Galilee, adjacent to the Sanhedrin Trail, when they spotted a gold coin on the ground. The four pupils, Ido Kadosh, Ofir Sigal, Dotan Miller and Harel Grin, realized immediately that this was a significant find, and they reported it to their geography and history teacher Zohar Porshyan, who contacted the Israel Antiquities Authority.
The pupils handed the coin to Nir Distelfeld, the IAA anti-theft inspector, and showed him the spot in the field where the found had been made...
Theodosius II was one of the most influential emperors of the Byzantine Empire, compiling an Imperial Code of Laws, designated the 'Codex Theodosius'.
According to Yair Amitzur, IAA chief archaeologist of the Sanhedrin Trail, "The emperor Theodosius II abolished the post of the 'Nasi', the Head of the Sanhedrin Council, and decreed that the Jews' financial contributions to the Sanhedrin be transferred to the Imperial Treasury."
(Excerpt) Read more at gov.il ...
I remember a year or so ago a story here about a couple that found a rusty tin can in the notch of a tree (IIRC) on their property in...California? Inside, it was filled with US gold coins.
I tell my kids to keep your mouth shut if you find treasure.
Close to the vest is best. Screw those other guys.
Coining presses of the time were typically drop type
mechanisms up to thirty feet tall, with a ratchet device
to catch the die on the rebound and keep it from double striking.
Interesting.
my first guess would be someone dropped it. no way could that be that preserved being in the elements for that long...
There are a few of us left. :^)
No finders keepers?
A Byzantine solidus like that one is especially valuable. Not only does it look like a 5/5 in terms of strike and wear, but it also has Theodosius picture on it which really amps up the value.
We should have a old pull-tab based currency system.
Interesting!
http://www2.lawrence.edu/dept/art/BUERGER/INTRO/CONTENTS.HTML
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4019442/posts
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4068075/posts
Yea, it was either a “fresh drop” (not long after minting), or it’s a modern knockoff using something like portrait lithography. That thing is probably going to be analyzed 9 ways to Sunday if it sees the open market.
I eyeball found a 1901 double eagle but it’d suffered a lot of post drop damage. It was a semi key date to, Philly mint, which unusually only made under 200K of them that year while San Francisco made over 2 million IIRC.
7 cans. Spectacular condition and a mix of dates including exceptionally rare ones. The Saddle Ridge Hoard
“Victorian Flower Petal Rings” LOL
In my Skan-o-Matic a Lincoln wheat cent loaded reverse side up with VDB very clearly visible. When my heart restarted I worked the slide to flip it obverse up.
No “S” mint mark.
*sigh*
I got the S-VDB at a park in Oakland. Horrid shape, but filled that slot in my “only found detecting” book of Wheat cents. That particular series will be a tough fill on the only by metal detecting front, the “22 plain” (an understruck Denver IIRC) will be particularly tough.
I completed 50 state quarters, Jefferson nickels and I think I have 1 left for Roosevelts between ‘46 and 64.
I have the press in paper books for the detecting finds, that way I can also record the date, location and machine I was using next to the coin.
My last Grandparent passed in September and when I returned from going to her funeral in Virginia, the first time I detected after that, the first coin I found was a nice wheat from her birth year, 1917! I was pretty stoked with that :-)
“The pupils handed the coin to Nir Distelfeld, the IAA anti-theft inspector,”
Looks like Ceasar got his due.
More like in the $1.5-3k range.
Good morning
The article didn’t mention the finders fee.
5.56mm
Nice.
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