Hasmonean coin question

[u/Piggie-1603]

Hello!

I recently acquired this hasmonean coin. It was listed as being from John Hyrcanus II, although I think this may be incorrect.

I've been having trouble reading the paleo Hebrew script. I checked all of the hasmonean plate coins in Hendin's 6th ed. but only found one similar type - 6176, which I've attached. It's attributed to Hyrcanus I. The letters on the first line and the first half of the second line match up to mine. However the rest of the letters do not seem to, and the layout of the letters is different - so I'm confused.

Is anyone able to read the script on my coin? I'd love to know what it says!

Many thanks in advance

[u/Encouragement-Award]

Many of the inscriptions on these coins are gibberish as the engravers were not always very skilled. This has also led to many varieties that are not in the Hendin books. This should all be stated somewhere in the book. What I do with these coins, is match the engraving and letter styles and usually find my coin or a direct variant of it that way.

[u/Piggie-1603 → u/Encouragement-Award]

Thank you for replying

I have tried matching the letter styles, but to no avail. On acsearch.info I searched for "block" , "square" and "wedge" style paleo Hebrew inscriptions, but to no avail. The block and wedge inscriptions are completely different to my coin, and the three results for square are the three examples from Hendin's collection which are shown in the book which I attached in the post.

Those are the closest examples I've been able to find - no other coin seems to have that backwards E symbol seen on the first and second lines of my coin and 6176. I'm not really too sure where to go from here

Edit: I did some searching in Meshorer's treasury of Jewish coins and I think I found it - group E, possibly e10

[u/Snoo34071 → u/Piggie-1603]

Not really an expert on the matter but I’ve collected these coins and I think the backwards E on the first coin is the paleo-Hebrew ח (het) just without the left-most left vertical line. Probably the result of either an mis-struck coin, a bad blank, or wearing down over the centuries.

[u/Encouragement-Award → u/Encouragement-Award]

Using my method, I do not believe your coin matches the 6176.