1/2 Shekel

Produced during the period when Carthage was financing Hannibal's campaigns in Iberia and preparing for what would become the Second Punic War, these fractional silver pieces served the immediate logistical demands of a military state on the move. Carthaginian coinage of this phase was largely struck to pay troops rather than to facilitate civilian commerce — a distinction that explains the relatively high production volumes despite the fractional denomination.

The specific reference clustering around SNG Copenhagen 383 and the Jameson collection places this piece within a well-documented but tightly bounded series.