CHRISTUS VITAE COLLECTION OF SHEKELS FROM THE LIFETIME OF JESUS

PHOENICIA. Tyre. 126/5 BC-AD 65/6. Collection of 38 AR shekels spanning the lifetime of Jesus Christ, circa 5 BC – AD 33/4. Dated from Civic Year 122 (5/4 BC) to Civic Year 159 (AD 33/4). All of general type bust of Melqart right, wearing laurel wreath, lion-skin around neck / TYPOY IEPAS KAI ASY?OY, Eagle standing left on prow, palm frond over wing; to left Civic Year date (in Greek letter-numerals) above club; to right, KP above monogram; Phoenician letter indicating officina between legs.

Individual dates, weights are provided below. Attributions are by Roman Provincial Coins Vol. I and Vol. I supplement, and by Dated Coins of Antiquity Vol. 1 (Ed Cohen-CNG, 2011) and DCA Supplement: Shekels of Tyre (Cohen-CNG, 2014). Rarity ratings are according to DCA 1 and are as follows: C = Thousands of known specimens; S = 500 to 2,000 known specimens; R1 = 25 to 500 known specimens; R2 = 2 to 25 known specimens; R3 = 1-2 known specimens; U = Unreported. DCA Supplement: Shekels of Tyre updates the rarity assessment (at least one example was found for most of the issues listed as U in Volume 1). The number of specimens cited in both RPC and SCA supplement are provided when available.

Date PKB, Year 122 (5/4 BC)

Date PKE, Year 125 (2/1 BC)

Date P?A, Year 131 (AD 5/6)

This extraordinary set of 38 dated shekels of Tyre, the main silver coinage of the Holy Land in New Testament times, spans the putative lifetime of Jesus of Nazareth and is the only collection of its type ever assembled. Hence we are justified in calling it "The Collection of a Lifetime." The collection was assembled by noted numismatist and antiquarian Frank Kovacs of Corte Madera, California over a 25-year period from 1990 to the present. Widely known as an expert on dated coinages of the Classical East (including Armenia, Judaea, Syria and Phoenicia), Frank's extensive contacts provided him the opportunity to acquire several newly discovered dates that still survive only singly or in tiny numbers (fewer than five known examples). At least one coin in the collection (number 33, dated Year 154 / AD 28-29), is thought to be unique. Thus this collection would be impossible to duplicate until more examples come to light.

The Lifespan of Jesus:
Even without taking up the question of his divinity, Jesus of Nazareth, widely known as Jesus Christ, is arguably the most important person in the history of Western Civilization. Indeed, the modern world's BC / AD dating system is based on his assumed birth year of 1 BC/AD 1 (there is no "year zero"). This dating system is based on the calculations of Dionysius Exeguus in about AD 525; however, modern scholars have concluded that Jesus was actually born a few years earlier, probably 5-4 BC.

Establishing the actual lifespan of Jesus is thus an uncertain exercise at best, as the Gospel accounts contain no detailed time line and the actual dates that are mentioned are frequently contradictory. However it is possible to set the broad goalposts between which Jesus must have lived, using the earliest widely accepted year for his birth, 5/4 BC, and the latest likely date for his Crucifixion, AD 33/4.

Shekels of Tyre:
The Phoenician port city of Tyre rose to prominence in the tenth century BC as an international trade center, becoming wealthy from its export of a deep purple dye made from a mollusk, the famous "Tyrian purple" worn by royalty. It maintained good relations with the Kingdom of Israel and even helped finance the construction of Solomon's temple circa 971-931 BC. It became a Persian vassal in 539 BC and, after a legendary siege, fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC. Tyre was fought over by the successor Ptolemaic and Seleucid Kingdoms for another two centuries before finally regaining its independence in 126 BC. From this year, Tyre began issuing silver coins, shekels and half-shekels, that were widely accepted in the Levant as a trade currency due to their carefully controlled weight and fineness. Tyrian shekels carry the obverse image of Melqart, a Phoenician version of Heracles, and a reverse depiction of an eagle standing left on the prow of a ship, palm branch tucked under its right wing, with a club (of Melqart / Heracles) in the left field. The reverse legend translates to "Of the Holy and Inviolable City of Tyre" and in the left field is a date in Greek numerals, counting years forward from the date of the city's autonomy (126/5 BC). Other letters and monograms identify the responsible mint magistrates; a Phoenician letter aleph or bet between the eagle's legs most probably indicate the office or workshop where the coin was struck.

Lacking a silver currency of its own, the newly independent kingdom of Judaea came to accept the use of Tyrian silver as the main coin of the realm. Tyrian shekels and half-shekels were the only coins acceptable as tithes and payments to the Temple in Jerusalem, which was vastly expanded by Herod the Great (37-4 BC). This situation maintained after the Romans gained direct control of Judaea after Herod's death.

After 20/19 BC, the style and fabric of Tyrian coinage changed markedly, with the coins becoming smaller and thicker, and the letters KP were added to the reverse control marks. The noted Israeli numismatist Ya'akov Meshorer proposed that these later shekels were actually minted in Jerusalem rather than Tyre, based on hoard evidence that the coins circulated far more heavily Judaea than in neighboring Phoenicia. While this view is not widely accepted, it is clear these later shekels were minted primarily to meet burgeoning demand in Judaea and surrounding regions. Edward Cohen, author of "Dated Coins of Antiquity," notes that the date form of the later shekels (consistently reading left-to-right) differs from the earlier issues and indicates a different mint in the southern Levant. These "KP" shekels were evidently minted more sporadically, and in smaller numbers, than earlier issues and are generally much rarer today; in fact coins are unknown for several of the years between 20 BC and AD 66, when their issue ceased. Other years are known from only a single specimen or a handful of examples.

The Tyrian shekel features prominently in many Gospel accounts, most notably the scene in which the Apostle Judas betrays Jesus to the Temple authorities and is "covenanted" with "30 pieces of silver." These were certainly shekels of Tyre. In another scene (Matthew 17:24-27), Jesus plucks a shekel from the mouth of a fish to pay his Temple tax. The famous incident where Jesus attacks the "money changers" in the Temple courtyard likely resulted in many Tyrian shekels flying about, as this was the currency into which visitors were changing their own native coins.

Since Tyrian shekels were the only large silver coins to circulate heavily in the Judaea, Samaria, Galilee and the Decapolis, the very regions Jesus of Nazareth frequented during his itinerant ministry, the question must be asked: What are the chances that Jesus himself, or one of his disciples, or one of the other figures mentioned in the Gospels, actually touched or held one of the coins in this collection?

To read the complete lot description, see:
PHOENICIA. Tyre. 126/5 BC-AD 65/6. Collection of 38 (http://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/judaea/phoenicia-tyre-126-5-bc-ad-65-6-collection-of-38-ar-shekels-spanning-the-lifetime-of-jesus-christ-circa-5-bc-ad-33-4/p/3037-60001.s)

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