PCGS Shekel of Tyre

DeiGratia

Hello my Forum Friends.


My wife is very interested in the Shekel of Tyre after reading about it online and wanted me to get her one.

Now since I have 0 expertise in this field of coinage, I felt it was prudent to get one already slabbed.

I did some research but it seems the prices of the Shekel of Tyre are all over the place Ranging from $300 - $2500

I was able to track one down already slabbed by PCGS!!!! Did you guys know that PCGS Slabbed Ancients????

I did NOT.. lol..

What would you say is a good price to pay for this coin picture below / General opinion:

TwoKopeiki

The coin fell on my hollow hand.
I could not bear it, although it was light,
and I let it fall. It was all in vain.
The other said: "There are still twenty nine.

DeiGratia

Roman did you make that up or did you get it from somewhere?

I really like it. The fall of Judas...

TwoKopeiki

It's a snippet from a poem "Matthew XXVII:9" by Jorge Luis Borges

marcmoish

Cool piece to own!

I sold one I found and slabbed (NGC) about a year ago - I think it was $650 or about - it WAS graded also - so I'd pass on this one unless price is low.

You can find some graded for sure - others that know ancients better will probably comment with better info.

DanM55

Do u think judas was given a regular full shekels or halves or even quarter shekels? the coin on display at nim i think is a half shekel but who knows if that actually is one of the judas coins. im thinking about getting one. im assuming if they said theyd give him 30 silver pieces they meant regular shekels but who knows

Sapyx

Note: be aware we are replying to a ten year old necro-thread.

@DanM55 said:
Do u think judas was given a regular full shekels or halves or even quarter shekels? the coin on display at nim i think is a half shekel but who knows if that actually is one of the judas coins. im thinking about getting one. im assuming if they said theyd give him 30 silver pieces they meant regular shekels but who knows

The Greek word translated as "piece of silver" in Scripture is argyria, which simply means "of silver"; the word itself is as broad as the English translation implies and could technically be applied to any silver coin, Greek or Roman, and not be incorrect. So to answer "what type of coins were the thirty pieces of silver", we need to know what kinds of silver coins were likely to be in the hands of the Jewish leaders.

It is generally assumed that the funds used to pay the blood price were Temple funds, rather than the personal wealth of one or more of the Jewish leaders (in which case, the coins could literally have been anything). Jewish customary law at the time stated that only pure silver coins could be accepted at the Temple as offerings; debased coins were not allowed. The Roman silver fineness standard at the time was around .800 fine, so Roman coins were not allowed in the Temple. Tetradrachms of Antioch and Alexandria were even more debased, so would not have been welcomed either. The tetradrachms of Tyre were the only fine silver coins (about .940 fine, and as pure as ancient technology was capable of creating) still being produced in bulk quantities, and seem to have been the predominant coin used in the Temple offerings at this time. This is, incidentally, why there were moneychangers in the Temple grounds - their job was to change the unacceptably debased money people might bring in into acceptable money.

Tyrian shekels bear images of pagan deities, and a pagan religious claim - that the city of Tyre was "holy" - that a pious Jew would have found offensive. This does not seem to have deterred them from accepting and using Tyrian shekels in the Temple. A rare case of pragmatism winning out over Jewish religious zeal.

It has been argued that didrachms, or half-shekels, might have been the denomination meant, simply because the Temple tax levied on all Jews was half a shekel per year, so logically, there should have been lots of half-shekel coins floating about in the Temple treasury from the tax collection. However, we have scriptural evidence (the story in Matthew 17:27) that tetradrachms were indeed used to pay the tax, for two people at a time (the literal Greek word in Matthew 17:27 is actually "stater", an archaic name for the coin we normally call the tetradrachm). And, since tetradrachms are physically much more commonly found in Palestine than didrachms, it seems most reasonable that the argyria was the Tyrian tetradrachm, which was reckoned as the equivalent of a shekel (even though, technically, it was slightly heavier than a Jewish standard shekel).

And so we have shekels of Tyre - one of the commonest silver coins in the Middle east - given extra value and collector demand, simply because they are classified as "thirty pieces of silver" coins. Tyrian shekels bear a date on them, and coins dated to the actual ministry and death of Christ are the most highly sought after. There are also replica Tyrian tetradrachms actually made in Jerusalem for Temple use; these replicas have distinctive features and are even more expensive and highly sought after than genuine Tyrian shekels.

numismagram

They can range greatly in price. Very low grade issues without clear dates and/or with some issues are going to be $300-500, while high grade, well struck examples can easily be $4,000-6,000 or more. Also, those dated to the year of the crucifixion are almost always $3,000-5,000 or more, even in lower grades. These prices are all generally double what they were 10 years or so ago, as the series has become very popular, especially given that they are dated to the city year of Tyre, and thus there are date collectors.

Sapyx

The general post-COVID craziness with regard to ancient coin prices is particularly noticeable for flagship coins like Tyrian shekels, especially after years in the doldrums. Those ten-year-old values in the OP are really too low now.