As far back as 1948, Israel has been issuing its own coins. However, the first ever Israeli gold coins were introduced in 1960. For two decades since 1960, the coins were available in denominations of mils (100 mils) and pounds (Lirot) until 1980. Starting 24 February, 1980 until 1985, Israel reformed its coinage and denominated it Shekels from the Agorot. During this coinage reform, Israel denominated mils and Lirot into Sheqels where 1 Sheqel was equal to 100 New Agorot. There was also a second conversion whereby 10 Sheqalim equaled 1 Agorah and 1 Sheqel equated to 1,000 Sheqalim. The Israel Gold Sheqel coin is also spelled as shekel depending on context.
The Israeli gold Sheqel coin has been traced to the Biblical version as a unit of gold weight. A lot of what is known about the Israeli gold sheqel is based on archaeological proof. A gold sheqel was equivalent to 10 sheqels of silver. The shekel has the date and a cup on the obverse with the inscription, “Shekel Yisroel” written in Arabic and which translates to Shekel of Israel.
The obverse of the half shekel goin coin has the inscription that translates to English as “half of a shekel”, which is written in Hebrew as “Chatzi Hashekel”. The reverse contains three pomegranates. This is a biblical special fruit found in the Land of Israelites as documented in Deuteronomy 8:8. The reverse also contains the equivalent of “Jerusalem the Holy” written in Hebrew script, “Yerushalayim Hakedoshah”.
The content of the Israel Gold Sheqel comprises 99.99% of gold content with sets of different weights. The interesting bit about the Iraq gold sheqel is that its minting has not been automated. Effectively, this means that the coin’s shape may be irregular albeit closer to a circular shape. The coins depict the significance of both the Holy Temple and that of the Holy Land, which appears. The Israel gold sheqels are a mint product of the outsourced Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation (KOMSCO), which was founded in 1951. However, the Israeli government through the Bank of Israel allows for the minting of commemorative and medalic Israel gold Sheqels.
