REVIEW: DAVID HENDIN LECTURE ON BIBLICAL COINS

This appeared in the September 2014 Enews of the American Numismatic Society

A half a dozen members of the Ozarks' Coin Club attended this lecture, some with little knowledge of the subject. Not to worry. The lecture might well have been titled. "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Temple." David Hendin has a very mobile face reminiscent of Jack Gilford who played Hysterium on Broadway and in the film, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Hendin was Hysterium in modern dress and with nary a note told his audience the story of the coins of the Bible hop scotching from myth to fake to hoard all in timeline order.

The Widow's Mite... not so fast. The Shekel, well... which one? The 30 Pieces of Silver...just a standard price for treachery with many historic precedents. And then the story of the money changers in the temple illustrated by Rembrandt with Hendin's Hysterium playing all the changers shouting out their rates to get your attention.

It was fascinating. This reviewer knew most of the terms before, if only from doing cross word puzzles and being a Shabbes goy, but Hendin brought this collection of old numismatic stuff together into a coherent whole from high priest to king to procurator and back again with dozens of coin illustrations to help identify the players.

Should this lecture play at a local Temple or Forum near you, it is highly recommended.

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