US returns two smuggled ancient coins to Israel after joint trafficking probe
A bronze prutah bearing the only known ancient depiction of the Temple menorah and a near-unique silver tetradrachm from Ashkelon were recovered from US auction houses.
Two rare ancient coins looted from archaeological sites in Israel and smuggled abroad have been returned to Israel in an official ceremony in New York. Their discovery came as the result of a complex international operation by the Israel Antiquities Authority in collaboration with US Homeland Security and the Manhattan District Attorney's Antiquities Trafficking Unit.
The coins were formally handed over on Monday after Israeli antiquities inspectors passed intelligence to American authorities about the artifacts being offered for sale through US auction houses.
One of the coins is a bronze prutah minted during the reign of the last Hasmonean king, Mattathias Antigonus, who ruled Jerusalem between 40 and 37 BCE. One side bears a depiction of the seven-branched menorah that stood in the Second Temple, making it the only known ancient Jewish coin to carry that image and one of the earliest artistic representations of the menorah ever discovered. The reverse side depicts the showbread table, another sacred temple artifact.
Antigonus's choice of distinctly Jewish imagery is believed to reflect his desire to win popular support during his struggle for control of the land against Herod, who was backed by Rome. The menorah and showbread table themselves were looted by Rome following the conquest of Jerusalem in 70 CE, with the Arch of Titus in Rome depicting soldiers carting off the sacred artifacts.
Due to its rarity and its status as the last coin of Hasmonean independence, the prutah is classified as an item of national importance and is prohibited from export.
The second coin is a silver tetradrachm from the Persian period, minted in ancient Ashkelon, and is one of the rarest ancient coins ever found in Israel. Only one other example is known to exist in the world, which is currently held in the Israel Museum's collection. The coin's design draws from the Athenian tetradrachm, the dominant currency of the Eastern Mediterranean at the time, depicting the goddess Athena on one side and an owl with outstretched wings on the other, with the letters aleph and nun, an abbreviation for Ashkelon, appearing in the upper right corner.
At the handover ceremony, Col. Matthew Bogdanos, head of the Manhattan DA's Antiquities Trafficking Unit, said the coins represent "an important piece of history that is finally coming home" and called the partnership with Israel a model for the global return of looted cultural heritage.
Ilan Hadad, supervisor of antiquities commerce at the IAA's Theft Prevention Unit, called the illegal antiquities trade "a grim international phenomenon" that serves as an economic engine for looting and the destruction of cultural heritage.