1 Æ Shekel

Sardinia passed into Carthaginian hands following the First Punic War, then was seized by Rome in 238 BC during a moment of Carthaginian weakness — a land-grab so nakedly opportunistic that it remained a Carthaginian grievance for decades. These bronzes were struck during the interval between Hannibal's crossing of the Alps and Rome's consolidation of the island, a period when Punic administrative structures on Sardinia were collapsing but had not yet vanished. The SNG Copenhagen specimen anchors the type's attribution, though the precise mint site on the island remains debated among specialists.