Unknown Greek

What do you think about this coin--it looks similar--but yours has better details!



Seleucid - Antiochus VII struck by John Hyrcanus I, 132-130 BC, AE prutah
Obv: Anchor
Rev: Lily.

The fabric looked vaguely Seleucid or Judean to me, so I just searched vcoins for Seleucid/Anchor/Lily. The lily may indicate its origin is Jerusalem. Your coin shows more detail than many.

Here's another being sold for $55


This one is $400

Then, I would think $14 wasn't too bad an investment in a coin I knew nothing about. Gees though. I was thinking it was a rose, not a lily. Seriously, is there a site I can go to to find information about these coins?

Just $14? I think you did well...there is a premium on "Holy land" coins, and I think this was struck in Jerusalem.

You picked a very interesting first 'Biblical' JW. Great score! Your depiction of the rose instead of the lily is not that far off. The lily, or shoshan in Hebrew, was considered a standout among flowers. Its fragile beauty, combined with the fact that it bloomed rapidly - thus linking it to fertility - enhanced its position. The 'lily' on the Jewish coins resembles the Rhodos flower - the rose.
The generic term shoshan which might have included such flowers as the lotus and even the rose. Rabbinnic sources refer to a 'lily-rose,' which is a symbol of Israel, as well as a 'soft lily' and the 'lily of the valley.'
What's interesting about your coin is this 'lily' is the first appearance of the lily on Jewish coinage. This coin was a transitional issue from Seleucid domination to Jewish control. The anchor was a Seleucid symbol officially introduced in Judaea on the early coin of Hyrcanus I/ Antiochus VII. The anchor referred to a symbol said to have appeared on the ring of Seleucus I and may have referred to naval strength.
The anchor seems to be upside down, until you realize that is how they stored them ... ready for deployment.
Your coin, JW is in very good condition for its age. The worth is between 35 and 150 bucks according to Hendin. So 17 bucks and some change....ain't bad my friend!

Oh yeah. He is a wealth of information when it comes to Judean coinage. Some good stuff on Roman's in that era as well. That has been one of my best investments for Biblicals. Nite now!

Thanks TJ. It's my first coin from Judea and as you can tell from this thread, I wasn't looking for a coin from Judea, but I'll take it.

I guess that is what I had in mind, thinking the Lily to be a Rose. For those of you not familiar, U.S. Intelligence is sometimes represented by a Rose, sometimes by a dagger, and sometimes by both. Although the intelligence rose is much different, I think that is more of what I had in mind even though I know Rhodes coins sometimes used a rose on their coins.