PHOENICIA, Tyre. 126/5 BC-AD 65/6. AR Half Shekel (23.5mm, 6.98 g, 12h). Dated CY 51 (76/5 BC). Near EF.

Triton XXIX
Lot: 340. Estimated: $ 1 000

Greek, 12h, Coin-in-Hand Video, Silver

Sold For $ 2 500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

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PHOENICIA, Tyre. 126/5 BC-AD 65/6. AR Half Shekel (23.5mm, 6.98 g, 12h). Dated CY 51 (76/5 BC). Head of Melkart right, wearing laurel wreath, lion skin around neck / Eagle standing left on prow; palm frond in background; to left, AN (date) above club; Δ to right, Phoenician B between legs; [TYPOY IEPAΣ] KAI AΣYΛOY around. DCA-Tyre 789 (same dies as illustration); HGC 10, 358; DCA2 948; BMC 230 var. (left field control); Rouvier 2036; Dow, ACTTB p. 168 (this coin). Underlying luster, some horn silver, off center. Near EF.

From the Joseph A. Dow Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group 60 (22 May 2002), lot 939.

After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, Tyre was subject first to the Ptolemies and then the Seleukids, and was an important mint for both dynasties. The city received a grant of autonomy from the Seleukid crown in 126/5 BC, whereupon it inaugurated a new civic coinage dated to the era of its autonomy, with certain affinities to the coinage it had formerly minted for its royal masters. The civic silver featured a new obverse type, a head of the local god Melkart, but the reverse type of an eagle standing on a prow was identical to the reverse of Tyre’s Seleukid coinage, which in turn had been an elaboration on the Ptolemaic eagle. Tyrian shekels and half-shekels continued to be minted until about AD 66. They circulated in Judaea and were used by the Jews to pay their annual Temple dues. The infamous “30 pieces of silver” paid to Judas for betraying Jesus would also have been Tyrian issues.

The present coin is published in Joseph A. Dow, Ancient Coins Through the Bible (Mustang, OK: Tate, 2011), in the chapter on the Crucifixion of Jesus. CNG is pleased to offer coins from the collection of the author here, and in subsequent electronic auctions, with over 100 illustrated in his book appearing in Triton Sessions 5 & 6. Coins illustrated in his book will be referenced to "Dow, ACTTB" in their description. Further information on the collection is available in the short biographical note on p. 14 at the beginning of this catalog.

The final winners of all Triton XXIX lots will be determined at the live public sale that will be held on 13-14 January 2026.

Triton XXIX – Session Two – Lot 302-613 will be held Tuesday afternoon, 13 January 2026 beginning at 2:00 PM ET.

Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.

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