The "Rod & Manna" Coins - the History of a Numismatic Interpretation

Time for something a little different.

Last Shabbat's parasha was Beshalach, which included the introduction of the manna (מן - man). According to Shemot 16:33-34, Moshe told Aharon to take a jar of sorts (the modern Hebrew צנצנת (tzintzenet) refers to a glass jar, but Rashi interprets it to mean the more likely pottery vessel of sorts), fill it with manna and place it somewhere for safekeeping. This was eventually put into the Ark of the Covenant for all time.

Fast-forward thousands of years later: Ramban (Nachmanides), having narrowly escaped from the clutches of the Church of Aragon after having utterly crushed the Dominican Friar Pablo Christiani in the infamous Disputation of Barcelona, disembarks from a ship at the port of Akko (Acre) in the Land of Israel and settles down there, before passing away some three years later.

While there, he sends letters to friends, family and acquaintances in Europe. One of the letters was particularly famous as it was mentioned by a number of Rishonim and featured in some manuscripts of Ramban's commentaries. In the letter, Ramban mentions coming across an original shekel coin:

"ברכני ה' עד כה, שזכיתי ובאתי לעכו, ומצאתי שם ביד זקני הארץ מטבע כסף מפותח פתוחי חותם, מצדו האחד כעין מקל שקד ומצדו השני כעין צלוחית, ובשני הצדדין סביב כתב מפותח באר היטב. והראו הכתב לכותיים וקראוהו מיד, כי הוא כתב עברי אשר נשאר לכותיים, כמו שמוזכר במסכת סנהדרין (כא ע"ב); וקראו מן הצד האחד 'שקל השקלים', ומן הצד השני 'ירושלים הקדושה'. ואומרים כי הצורות: מקלו של אהרן, שקדיה ופרחיה; והצורה השנית - צנצנת המן."

Translation:

"The LORD has blessed me until now, that I merited to arrive at Akko, and I found that by the elders of the land there was a silver coin featuring stamped designs, on one side something appearing like a rod of an almond tree and on the other side, like a kind of plate, and on both sides well-inscribed texts. And they showed the writing to the Cuthites (Samaritans) and they were able to read immediately, for that was the (ancient) Hebrew writing which was left to the Cuthites, as is brought in tractate Sanhedrin (21b); and they read on one side 'shekel of shekels' and from the reverse 'holy Yerushalayim'. And they say that the designs (are): Aharon's staff with its almonds and flowers; and the second design - the vessel of manna."

Today, archeology having advanced, the type of coin Ramban saw was very likely one of the coins minted by the Jews during the Great Revolt. Here's one such coin:

(image from Y. Ofer, 'Why Did Nahmanides Misread the Inscription on the Sheqel-Coin?' (Heb.),

Tarbiz 80 (2012), p. 263)

Looking at the images, we can understand why Ramban's words might have sounded a bit skeptical. The 'rod' doesn't exactly look like a rod and the flowers don't really look like almond flowers, and the vessel looks odd in general. Today these symbols are commonly interpreted as a branch with three pomegranates and a goblet or a chalice decorated with pearls or marbles of sorts (see here, here and here for reference) (we also know that whoever read the coin's inscription had been mistaken and the coin's obverse actually reads 'shekel Yisrael' (שקל ישראל), not 'shekel ha'shekalim' (שקל השקלים - shekel of shekels)).

However, strangely enough, the interpretation that was offered to Ramban persisted for many years. In the first volume of The Numismatic Journal from 1836-1837, one of the world's first Egyptologists, as well as an avid numismatician, Isaac Cullimore (erroneously referred there as "J. Cullimore"), noted about such a coin:

"...you, in all probability, possess one of the first shekels of the sanctuary, having on the obverse, the pot of manna surrounded by the inscription [Samaritan text] which, expressed in Chaldee characters (square Hebrew script), is שקל ישראל Shekel Israel or the Shekel of Israel, and on the reverse, the budding rod of Aaron, with the inscription [Samaritan text], in Chaldee characters, ירושלים הקדושה Jerushalaim hakadushah, or Jerusalem the Holy..." (ibid. p. 62)

So, nearly six centuries (!) after Ramban's time, at a time when the pyramids were first being excavated and the first cuneiform texts were being studied and numismaticians were coming to accept that the first coins came into use in the Levant circa the Persian era, one of the world's most renowned Egyptologists thought that this coin featured exactly what Ramban had been informed and subsequently accepted it featured, hundreds of years earlier.

Very strange indeed!

Ramban, as evident from his letter, did not make up the interpretation. He was informed this by unnamed individuals. Whether these were the elders of the Akko community, or a different community, or perhaps the Samaritans who read out the text on the coins is unclear.

So, we are left with some questions:

When did the interpretation change? Why did the interpretation change? How did Cullimore hear about this interpretation?

I don't have answers to these questions at the moment, but I will update this post or make another one when I have more information on the matter.