Piedfort coins — struck at double the normal planchet thickness — became a vehicle for Israel's anniversary issues in the 1980s, aimed squarely at the collector market rather than circulation. This 1988 piece marks forty years since the declaration of the state, a politically charged anniversary that fell in the same year as the outbreak of the First Intifada. The juxtaposition went largely unremarked in official mint documentation.
The underlying 5 Agorot was already a minor denomination by 1988, its purchasing power effectively negligible after the hyperinflationary crisis that forced the shekel's replacement with the new shekel in 1985.
Piedfort coins — struck at double the normal planchet thickness — became a vehicle for Israel's anniversary issues in the 1980s, aimed squarely at the collector market rather than circulation. This 1988 piece marks forty years since the declaration of the state, a politically charged anniversary that fell in the same year as the outbreak of the First Intifada. The juxtaposition went largely unremarked in official mint documentation.
The underlying 5 Agorot was already a minor denomination by 1988, its purchasing power effectively negligible after the hyperinflationary crisis that forced the shekel's replacement with the new shekel in 1985.