★ Ex Robinson Numismatic Chronicle 1964 ★

Sicily. Uncertain Carthaginian military mint in Sicily. Siculo-Punic circa 213-210 BC.
1/2 Shekel AR

18 mm, 3,29 g

Laureate male head to left, most likely that of Melqart / Elephant walking to right; below, in exergue, Punic "A"

Nearly Extremely Fine

SNG Copenhagen 382; A. Burnett, The Enna Hoard and the Silver Coinage of the Syracusan Democracy, in SNR 62 (1983), 116-31; Robinson, Essays Mattingly 8b. Ex Robinson Numismatic Chronicle 1964

Coins of this type were long thought to have been minted by King Jugurtha of Numidia (118-106 BC), as HN, p. 884, but their appearance in hoards that clearly dated to the Second Punic War made that attribution impossible. They were then ascribed to Punic forces in Spain, but since most existing specimens have turned up in Sicily it has been suggested that they were minted in Carthage for use by Punic troops on the island. However, since at least one of the half-shekels is known overstruck on a denarius it seems much more likely that they were struck in a mint controlled by the Carthaginians in Sicily, which was able to use contemporary early denarii as flans. The head on the obverse is probably a young Melqart, a deity always popular with soldiers – though he has been identified as Hannibal himself, while the elephant was one of Carthage's most potent weapons in the war against Rome