Saturday, March 10, 2012

Million dollar shekel sold

THE MILLION DOLLAR SHEKEL has sold for more that 1.1 million dollars. Art Daily:
Ancient Jewish coin brings record $1.1+ million at Heritage Auctions sale in New York

NEW YORK, NY.- The first silver shekel struck in Jerusalem by Jewish forces rebelling against Roman oppression in the first century CE, one of only two specimens known, brought a world record price of $1,105,375 at Heritage Auctions on March 8 as part of the auction of The Shoshana Collection of Ancient Coins of Judea. The coin sold to an anonymous overseas collector. The collection, consisting of more than 2,200 coins in total, is expected to realize more than $10 million over multiple auctions this year, the first of which began Thursday.

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The article also has news on some of the other big-ticket items at the auction. No word if any are being donated to a museum.

Background here and links.