50 Sheqalim Piedfort Proof Set Issue

Piedfort coins — struck at twice the normal planchet thickness — were a French specialty revived in the late twentieth century by several Western mints seeking to offer premium collector variants without commissioning entirely new dies. Israel adopted the format for select proof issues during the 1980s, a period when the sheqel itself was being consumed by triple-digit inflation that would force a full currency redenomination in 1985, the same year this set was issued.

The timing is pointed: a collector piedfort in aluminium bronze, struck to proof standard, released precisely as the currency it represents was being legislated out of existence and replaced by the new sheqel at a ratio of 1,000 to one.