GREEK COINS ITALY ZEUGITANIA CARTHAGE Half Shekel, Second Punic War Issue, about 213-210 B.C. AR 3.43 g. Laureate head of Melkart l. Rev. Elephant r.; in exergue, Punic letter A(leph). Burnett, The Enna Hoard and the silver coinage of the Syracusan Democracy, SNR 62 (1983), 11, 129 (this rev. die). Rare. Extremely fine This issue has traditionally been attributed to a Spanish mint. However, more recent Sicilian hoard evidence suggests it was struck in Carthage at the time of the Second Punic War. It has also been suggested that the obverse head might be that of Hannibal or another Punic ruler but, in the absence of firm evidence, it is usually identified as Melkart.
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