New Evidence for the 1889 ‘Hebron’ Hoard of Bar Kokhba Silver

Abstract

A group of Bar Kokhba tetradrachms and denars, and a bronze ring, acquired by Henry
Gillman while U.S. consul in Jerusalem, come from a hoard said to have been found at Hebron
in 1889. The coins are presumed to be the first assemblage of Bar Kokhba currency known
to modern scholars. Some of these specimens were subsequently divided between the Kelsey
Museum of Archaeology in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the Detroit Institute of Arts. The hoard
included a large number of coins struck in the final stage of the rebellion and was hidden
before some of the latest issues were dispersed.