A Missing Link in the Last Carthaginian Gold Series

Abstract

Carthage minted its final series of gold coins during the Third Punic War. G.K. Jenkins and J. Alexandropoulos described them as a unit and a fraction, identified as a 2/5 sheqel and a 1/5 sheqel because the larger coin weighs about 3 g. However, the existence of a sheqel bearing the same types as those of the 2/5 sheqels suggests that this coinage had at least three denominations. The earliest 2/5 sheqels have either no control marks or single Punic letters, representing an alphabetical sequence, of which a coin with the letter gimel, in the Kadman Numismatic Pavilion, provides a missing link.