Ancient Collection of Ancient Jewish Coins Found

A coin collector's collection is found, at least 1940 years after they were hidden away, with some coins in the collection dating back 2,150 years.

The Times Of Israel: Cache of Hasmonean-era silver coins uncovered in Modiin

Dr. Donald Tzvi Ariel, head of the Coin Department at the antiquities authority, said the cache contained one or two coins from every year between 135 and 126 BCE.

“It seems that some thought went into collecting the coins, and it is possible that the person who buried the cache was a coin collector. He acted in just the same way as stamp and coin collectors manage collections today,” he added.

“The findings from our excavation show that a Jewish family established an agricultural estate on this hill during the Hasmonean period,” Tendler said.

Coins were also found there dating to the first Jewish Revolt against Rome, including one marked Year 2.

Another very neat find. Coin collecting has been going on for a very long time, and collecting a shekel and half shekel of each year for 9 years is a pretty indicative trend. It has been long known that the Medieval and Renaissance nobility collected coins, and it's neat to find evidence that coin collecting was going on in antiquity.