Phonecia, Tyre half shekel

Laureate bust of Melkart right

ΤΥΡΟΥ ΙΕΡΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΣΥΛΟΥ (of Tyre the holy and inviolable)
Eagle standing left on prow; palm over shoulder, club to the left, flanked by date LM (40) and monogram ΔP to the right.

Tyre; Year 40= 87/86 BC
6.98g

Sear 5921; BMC 225

Ex-HJB Buy or Bid Sale 206, lot 103 (Nov 15, 2018); Ex-Calgary Coin

Removed from NGC holder prior to HJB.
NGC graded Strike 4/5, Surface 3/5; NGC 4278263-010

According to the Mosaic law, every year, Jewish males over the age of 20, paid a half shekel tax in silver to the Temple in Jerusalem. Mention of this tax can be found in the Bible at Exodus 30:15 Of course, at the time of writing there were no coins in circulation and this tax was paid by weight in silver. By the 1st century BC the tax was paid in either the Tyrian shekel (enough for two people) or half-shekel (for himself). The Jewish Talmud required the tax to be paid with a coin of high purity silver. The only ones that conformed to this high standard were the 94% pure silver Tyrian shekels. Even though these coins depict images of Melkart (Phoenician Hercules) and an eagle, they were still accepted at the temple because of the silver content.