Israel Museum Buys 1,500-Year-Old Persian Coin Collection

The Israel Museum has bought more than 1,200 silver coins that were used in Persia in the 4th and 5th centuries and which includes several rare coins.

Referring to a rare silver artifact called the “first Jewish coin” because of the inscription of the word “Judea” in Aramaic, the museum’s chief curator of archaeology, Chaim Gitler, told the Times of Israel, “It’s the earliest coin from the province of Judea.”

The “Jewish coin” was reportedly found in the southern Hevron Hills, between Hevron and Be’er Sheva, and was bought by New York collector Jonathan Rosen, who agreed to donate his collection to the Israel Museum.