ISRAEL 1 SHEKEL 1981-85

This coin was minted in the modern state of Israel. As with many Israeli coins it depicts imagery and motifs adopted from its ancient heritage and historic past. It is a modern extension of ancient Jewish coinage motif.

This is a one shekel coin minted after the monetary reform of 1980 in which the Lira and Agorot were converted to Shekels. It depicts the Omer Cup, a chalice with a pearled rim, on the obverse and a Menorah on the reverse. The Omer Cup is a ceremonial temple drinking vessel and the Menorah is a 7 point candle holder a religious object used in temple.

Pictured top right is an ancient example if an 1/8th Shekel showing the Omer Cup minted during the Jewish war with an inscription that reads in Hebrew "to the redemption of Zion." The lower right coin is a prutah struck between 40 and 37 B.C. under Mattathias Antigonus that depicts the menorah, a symbol that now appears in some form on all modern Israeli coinage.

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