CARTHAGE, Second Punic War. Circa 220-205 BC. AR Half Shekel (18mm, 3.22 g, 1h). Carthage or Sicilian mint. Struck during the expedition to Sicily, circa 213-210 BC. Head of Melkart left, wearing laurel wreath / Elephant advancing right; Punic A in exergue. MAA –; cf. Visonà 55 (shekel); Walker 29; CNP 447; SNG Copenhagen 383; SNG Newham Davis 107; Burnett, Enna 129 (same dies). Deep iridescent tone, a hint of die wear. EF. Rare.

From the Matthew Curtis Collection.

These coins were originally attributed to the Punic mint in Spain, but subsequent hoard evidence has established that they were struck either in Carthage or a Carthaginian mint in Sicily during the Second Punic War (see A. Walker, “Some Hoards from Sicily and a Carthaginian Issue of the Second Punic War” in Studies Mildenberg, p. 275, and note 6). Burnett (Enna) argued, based on the fixed die axes of the coins, that this issue was struck in Carthage, but for circulation in Sicily.