Description
Phoenicia, Tyre.
Silver Shekel, 126 BC-AD 65.
Obverse: Laureate head of Melkart facing right.
Reverse: Eagle standing left on prow, palm-branch over shoulder; in left field, date above club.
(BMC 126 var.)
Good Very Fine.
14.08g.
Silver shekels minted by the Phoenician city of Tyre circulated widely in the Kingdom and later Roman province of Judaea. Half and full shekels were used to pay the Jewish Temple Tax and this particular coin appears twice in the Bible. It appears as both the ‘Coin in the Fish’s Mouth’, and the ‘Thirty Pieces of Silver’ offered to Judas in his betrayal of Jesus. The Tyrian Shekel is one of the key coins of the Bible. A perfect addition to any numismatic collection or that of a Biblical scholar.
