Phoenicia, Tyre. Half shekel; Phoenicia, Tyre; Year 41=86/5 BC, Half Shekel, 7.17g. Cf. Rouvier-2027 (no L before date, different monogram in field). Obv: Laureate bust of Melqart r. Rx: TYPo[Y IEPAS - KAI] ASY?oY Eagle standing l. on [prow], palm over its shoulder in background, to l. club with LAM (date) above, to r. monogram. The letters of the date run into one another so are hard to readA half shekel of Tyre is rather scarce compared to the shekels. Since the tax on Jews at the temple was 1/2 shekel per male member of the family, the scarcity of this coin attests to the large families the Jews had in ancient Judaea. MS
($1200)