A Jewish War year 5 shekel has sold for $140,000 at Ira & Larry Goldberg Auctioneers.
The lot was among the highlights of the February 2-3 auction of the Tom Reynolds rare coin collection in Los Angeles.
 The year 5 shekel was produced during the Siege of Jerusalem |
It's one of a small number struck during the First Revolt (AD 66-70), the Jewish uprising against the Roman empire, and was probably produced in the months before the Romans broke the siege and sacked Jerusalem.
While the vast majority of coin production ceased, silver shekels were produced up until the end.
This was so the populace could continue to pay the half-shekel temple tax, specified in the Book of Exodus as the duty of every Israelite over the age of 20.
The auction house comments: "According to the Menorah Coin Project, our coin is one of only ten known which share this obverse die, the same die as found on all of the Year 5 shekels excavated at the mountain-top fortress of Masada, thus making a total of only 12 examples from all known dies…
"After the war, it was forbidden to use coins of the revolt, so the shekels were melted down into ingots, for their silver value."
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