Looted rare quarter shekel was officially handed over by Americans to Israeli officials during a repatriation ceremony held in New York City on September 12.
This small silver quarter shekel has been minted during a Jewish revolt nearly 2,000 years ago. The coin, produced in 69 AD during the fourth year of fighting, was used less as currency and more for propaganda reasons: “To show that the Jewish people were a people,” said Greg Wertsch, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations in Denver. The minting of a such a coin was “in fact a declaration of independence by the Jews in the land of Israel, a statement against the mighty empire that stood before them,“ added Ilan Hadad of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).
It is one of only four of its kind known to exist and Israel doesn’t have a single one of these coins in its museums. The second one is at the British Museum in London, and the location of other two is currently unknown.
This silver quarter shekel, estimated to be worth as much as $1 million.
Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) learned from informants that the coin had been taken by Palestinians from a hoard unearthed in the Ella Valley, south of Jerusalem. The IAA spent fifteen years trying to locate the coin, which passed through illicit antiquities markets in Israel, Jordan and the UK. It was seized in 2017 by US Homeland Security Investigations when collectors tried to sell it at an auction in Denver, CO. After several years in court the coin was finally handed over to Israeli officials at the Manhattan DA's office on September 12.