Bought two exceedingly rare Israeli patterns

desslok · November 20, 2017 1:35PM

Background story:
Upon the opening of the Israel Mint in Tel- Aviv in 1954, a suggestion was made to issue commemorative coins to celebrate the event. That novel idea was discussed by the Advisory Committee for the Designs of Coins and Banknotes, which at that time was attached to the Israel Government Printing Office, and the Government Printer commissioned three designs from the Utrecht Mint in the Netherlands. Three different designs were made, based on the circulating 100, 50 and 25 Pruta coins of the time, and featuring the inscription "The Renewal of Israel's Mint" in Hebrew, and the Hebrew dates that translate to "132 A.D. - 1954 A.D." (signifying the first time coins were struck in Israel since the Bar Kochva Revolt). The whole idea was eventually scrapped and the coins never made it into production, but a few test pieces were stuck from each of the designs, plus a forth documented type which is a mule made with the 25 Pruta commemorative reverse die and a circulation strike 25 Pruta obverse die. Israel's commemorative coin program started four years later, after the Bank of Israel was founded. It is unknown how many test pieces were struck (one source claims 12 pieces of each type) or what became of them. One full set of all four types was donated to the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv, where one of the pieces (the 50 Pruta variant) is prominently displayed together with a plate-size model used in the design process.

The pieces have since then fallen into obscurity. Despite being mentioned in several articles of "The Shekel" from the 1960s and 1970s, they are not featured in any of the catalogs or major numismatic reference books covering Israeli coinage, and the collector base at large is totally unfamiliar with them. They appeared only a handful of times in public auctions over the last 40 years.

Today I was able to acquire two of the pieces.

One is the 50 Pruta type, graded NGC MS65. It is the only one graded at either service, and is the same type as the piece on display at the Museum.

The other is the 25 Pruta "mule" type, featuring one side struck with a circulation 25 Pruta obverse. It is graded PCGS SP66. A similar coin of the same type was auctioned by Heritage in 2004, realizing $3850 including BP. The Heritage coin was sold raw and subsequently graded PCGS SP65 despite having some corrosion on the top part.

My apologies for the cellphone images, I didn't get a chance the photograph them properly. The PCGS piece also has a great quality TrueView.

The 50 Pruta:

The 25 Pruta Mule:

The TrueView for the above coin: