Greece (Jerusalem) AR Shekel of Tyre PCGS Genuine (89 - Brilliant Uncirculated)

A Coin of the Bible. Silver shekel, c. 14 g, high purity (~94%). Obverse: laureate head of Melqart-Heracles right, lion skin around neck. Reverse: eagle standing left on prow, palm frond over wing; club and civic date left, KP monogram right; Greek legend ΤΥΡΟΥ ΙΕΡΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΣΥΛΟΥ (“of Tyre the holy and inviolable”); Phoenician letter between legs.

Struck in the long autonomous series begun 126/5 BC after Tyre’s independence from the Seleucids. These later KP issues (from c. 18 BC) show a shift to smaller, thicker flans and often cruder style. Scholar Ya’akov Meshorer and others argue many were minted in Jerusalem to supply the Temple tax, citing find patterns, style, and rabbinic references equating Tyrian silver with “Jerusalemite.” The view remains debated; most attribute the type primarily to Tyre serving Judean demand.

This is the coin almost certainly used for the annual half-shekel Temple tax and the most plausible candidate for the thirty pieces of silver paid to Judas (Matthew 26:15). Thoroughly Hellenistic in design, weight standard, imagery, and Greek legends, it continued unchanged into the early Roman period without adopting imperial Roman features.

A classic biblical and historical type of enduring collector interest.
References: HGC 10, 357; RPC I (various); DCA-Tyre.