Double Prutah - John Hyrcanus I

John Hyrcanus I ruled as both High Priest and ethnarch following the murder of his father Simon Maccabaeus at a banquet in Jericho in 134 BC — a dynastic killing that forced him to consolidate Hasmonean authority almost immediately upon taking power. His bronze coinage represents the first autonomous Jewish issues struck in Judea, a deliberate assertion of political independence that stopped just short of calling himself king. That title would wait for his son Aristobulus I.

Hendin 1136 is among the more frequently encountered Hasmonean types, though centering problems and weak areas from uneven flan preparation are the norm rather than the exception for this issue.