SHEKEL of TYRE Huge SILVER Coin 95BC
$365.00
Aug-19-01
Seller axismundi.com

     Obverse: Laueate head of Melquarth facing right.
     Reverse: Eagle standing left, holding plam under right wing, in
     left field BL with club of Herakles below, monogram between legs,
     and Phoenician letter in right field... TUROU IERAS KAI ASULOU
     Size: 29 mm ( 1 1/8" )
     Weight: 14.1 grams
     Reference: BMC Phoenicia 241 / 120

minted in the important Phoenician coastal city of Tyre,
95 - 94 BC. 
This coin has acquired a legendary status as the most likely 
coin paid to Judas for his betrayal of Jesus. (referenced
in Matthew, Chapter 26, 14 
Tyre had been subject to Greek
rule after its conquest by Alexander III until the Seleukid
kingdom gained control late in the 3rd century BC. About 100
years later, Tyre began to issue the coins of featuring a 
portrait of Melquarth with an impressive standing eagle 
reverse. This new Shekel of Tyre maintained such a reliable 
quality of precious metal and weight that it was one of the few coins accepted at the Temple in Jerusalem. 
It is for this reason that historians and numismatists
conclude that this would almost certainly be the coinage given to Judas.