Mel Wacks, President Emeritus of the American Israel Numismatic Association, has announcedthat the winners of the 2024 Shekel Prize are the co-authors of - acomprehensive work weighing in at over 6 pounds and 832 pages. The die study was originallycarried out by Jean-Philippe Fontanille, with commentary by Dr. Haim Gitler and CatharineLorber. Gitler, Lorber and Fontanille are residents of Israel, the United States and Canada,respectively.

A Yehud coin was first published in 1814 by Taylor Combs, Keeper of Coins andAntiquities at the British Museum, featuring a mysterious seated male figure on awinged wheel. Interestingly, no other example of this type has ever been discovered.

The volume, published by the Israel Numismatic Society, presents a die study of the provincialsilver coinage of Judah in the late Persian, Macedonian, and early Hellenistic periods, rangingfrom about 350 - 262 BCE. It offers precise descriptions of the coins, their designs, and theirinscriptions; enumerates the obverse and reverse dies identified for each of the 44 recordedtypes; and explains the probable sequence of the issues as deduced from iconographicassociations and die links. The iconography of the coin types is examined in depth, withcomparisons to motifs in Greek, Persian, and ancient Near Eastern art, including other localcoinages and sources in Judahite material culture. The monograph also analyzes data relatingto the metrology, metal content, and circulation of the coinage. Overall, the study attempts toplace the Yehud coinage in its historical context and to define its role in the economy of theancient province of Judah. is available on amazon for $150.

The Shekel Prize Committee also awarded a Special Commendation to Dr. Howard Berlin,author of a definitive study This booktraces the need and development for a native Palestine currency, culminating with the formationof the Palestine Currency Board which administered the Palestine Mandate's new monetarysystem. Unlike Britain's imperial pound-shilling-pence monetary system, the newly createdPalestine pound was a decimal system divided into 1,000 mils and used the British poundsterling as its anchor currency. Established June 15, 1926, the Palestine Currency Boardremained in effect for 26 years until it was dissolved on March 31, 1952, nearly four years afterthe State of Israel was established on May 14, 1948. The softcover version is available onamazon for $40.95.

The rarest 100 Palestine banknote (1927 100 pounds) was sold in an auctionin England in 2022 for £140,000 ($173,000). Less than 10 are known to exist.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NEW BOOK: THE PALESTINE CURRENCY BOARD(https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n13a11.html)