3 Shekel - Hamilcar Barca

Gadir — modern Cádiz — was the oldest Phoenician settlement in Iberia and functioned as the financial base for Barcid military operations throughout the peninsula. These heavy silver pieces were almost certainly struck to pay mercenary troops during the aggressive territorial expansion Hamilcar conducted between his arrival in 237 BC and his death by drowning in battle against the Vettones around 229 BC, meaning the issue continued under his son-in-law Hasdrubal.

The Barcid commanders operated with extraordinary autonomy from Carthage — closer to independent warlords than provincial governors — and their coinage reflects that, issued on Punic weight standards detached from any Carthaginian mint authority.