TYRE SILVER HALF SHEKEL – ISSUE FROM THE FINAL YEARS OF CHRIST’S LIFETIME AND CRUCIFIXION – VF NGC GRADED GREEK PHOENICIA COIN (Inv. 18455)

$2,600.00

18455. PHOENICIA. TYRE.
Silver Half Shekel, 6.91 g, 19 mm. Issue of Tyre Years 155–158 (AD 29–33), a period corresponding to the final years of Christ’s life and the CRUCIFIXION.
Obv. Laureate head of Melkart right. Rev. ΤΥΡΟΥ ΙΕΡΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΣΥΛΟΥ, eagle standing left on prow, garbled date and club to left, KP and monogram to right.
DCA Tyre Supplement Release 2, 873 and 877 (both struck using the same obverse die).
NGC graded VF, Strike 5/5, Surface 4/5, labeled “yrs. 155–158 (AD 29–33), Cohen (Tyre.R2),873+7 (sod),” the latter indicating that this is the same obverse die as Cohen’s Tyre Supplement Release 2, 873 and 877.

Half shekels struck just before Christ’s crucifixion are very difficult to identify since the dates are rendered very roughly using dashes and dots. However, the obverse dies used in this period offer indisputable proof. In this case, even though the date is not clear, the obverse die is documented as having struck specimens during this time frame, in particular years 155 (AD 29/30 = Cohen 873) and 157 (AD 32/3 = Cohen 877). Thus, this die was in use exactly during period viewed by most scholars as corresponding to the Crucifixion.