Identify year of coin: Hebrew coins
Determining the year of minting of a coin is an important aspect of the identification of your coin. For most countries this isn't hard, as it is written on the coin using the Gregorian or Western calendar. But when it comes, for instance, to Chinese, Japanese or Arab coins, this could be a more hazzardess job.
Therefore, I tried to make a tutorial (based on several websites and Wikipedia) how to read these years and how to translate them to the Gregorian calendar.
Therefore, I tried to make a tutorial (based on several websites and Wikipedia) how to read these years and how to translate them to the Gregorian calendar.
Hebrew Dating System
The Hebrew calendar or Jewish calendar is a lunisolar calendar and starts with the year when the earth was created according to Judaism (Anno Mundi). This year would be 3761 A.D. Hence, to convert a Hebrew year to a Western year just substract 3760 of the Western year. That was the easy part.
The Hebrew Dating System can be found mainly on Israelian coins. The year, as it appears on a coin, is written in Hebrew. The first thing to know is that the year is to be read from the right to the left (instead of from the left to the right as in western coins). The second thing to know is that the 'thousand years' (millennia) are not always mentioned. One should know by oneself whether the coin is a thousand years old or not.
The Hebrew Dating System can be found mainly on Israelian coins. The year, as it appears on a coin, is written in Hebrew. The first thing to know is that the year is to be read from the right to the left (instead of from the left to the right as in western coins). The second thing to know is that the 'thousand years' (millennia) are not always mentioned. One should know by oneself whether the coin is a thousand years old or not.
א | ב | ג | ד | ה | ו | ז | ח | ט | י | כ | ל | מ | ן |
ך | ם | נ | |||||||||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 |
Aleph | Bet | Gimel | Dalet | Hei | Vav | Zayin | Het | Tet | Yud | Kaf | Lamed | Mem | Nun |
ס | ע | פ | צ | ק | ר | ש | ת |
ף | ץ | ||||||
60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 100 | 200 | 300 | 400 |
Samech | Ayin | Pei | Tsadi | Kuf | Resh | Shin | Tav |
The numbers 20, 40, 50, 80 and 90 appear different when they are the last numeral in the number (see the second row).
To get the Hebrew year, just add all the numbers, et voilà!
For instance א"עשת is the year 400 + 300 + 70 + 1 = 771. One should know it's from the sixth millennium, so that makes the Hebrew year 5771. Substract 3760 years: 5771 - 3760 = 2011 according to the western calendar.
To get the Hebrew year, just add all the numbers, et voilà!
For instance א"עשת is the year 400 + 300 + 70 + 1 = 771. One should know it's from the sixth millennium, so that makes the Hebrew year 5771. Substract 3760 years: 5771 - 3760 = 2011 according to the western calendar.