Last Dated Shekel of Tyre
Second Known

Triton XXII, Lot: 379. Estimate $1000. Sold for $30000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PHOENICIA, Tyre. 126/5 BC-AD 65/6. AR Shekel (25mm, 14.13 g, 12h). Dated CY 191 (AD 65/6). Head of Melkart right, wearing laurel wreath, lion skin around neck / Eagle standing left on prow; palm frond in background; to left, P(koppa)A (date) above club; to right, KP above monogram; Phoenician A between legs; [TYPOY] IEPAΣ [KAI AΣYΛOY] around. DCA-Tyre 684; Rouvier –; RPC –; HGC 10, 357; DCA 920; BMC –. Good VF, toned, earthen deposits. Extremely rare, the second known (the other in a private collection).

This is the last recorded year that the shekel of Tyre was struck. Specialists in the coinage of Phoenicia and Judaea have noted that this date coincides with the onset of the Jewish War, when authorities at the Jerusalem Temple began striking their own silver coins for payment of the tax.