Israel - Liberal Judea Medal 1958 - Plags

The Liberation I medal is Israel's first State medal ...

Israel - Liberal Judea Medal 1958 - Plags

The Liberation I medal is Israel's first State medal, issued in 1958 to commemorate the nation's 10th Anniversary of Independence. The medal symbolizes two extremes. Its reverse remembers the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD, the subsequent end of the existence of the people of Israel as a sovereign entity, and the beginning of an almost 1900 years long Diaspora. The medal's obverse celebrates Israel's rebirth as a free nation in 1948.

The obverse shows a farmer planting a tree and a woman holding her child, under a seven-branched palm tree with two clusters of fruit. The text around the rim reads "A decade of freedom for Israel 5718 [1958]".

The reverse depicts a Roman coin struck by Emperor Vespasian in 71 AD on the occasion of the conquest of Judea. On the left stands Vespasian the victor and on the right a mourning Hebrew sits under a palm tree. The text on the Roman coin reads IVDAEA CAPTA (Judea captured). The letters S.C. stand for "Senatus Consultum" (by order of the Senate). The Hebrew text near the rim reads "Judea in exile 3830 [70 AD]".

An unknown number of bronze 59 mm and silver 61 mm medals have on their obverse two distinct punch marks. These result from the fact that medals continued to be minted from dies that had been invalidated by drilling two holes in them. The projections left on the medals were then removed and the medals polished, leaving crude punch marks and sometimes polish marks as well. In numismatic jargon these punch marks are called "plugs". Some medals show more than two "plugs". The medal depicted here has one plug on the left and a double plug on the right, a relatively common occurrence. Although not clearly visible, crude polish marks appear diagonally above the kneeling man's head.

* The silver plated copper version with plugs is undocumented, and its origin is therefore uncertain; most probably unofficially silver plated at a later stage.