Ancient Coin Find From … 2016?

An Israeli coin expert has said that a coin believed to be 2,000 years old found by a child in Chalamish last week was not the real thing, The Times of Israel reported Sunday.

“Whether it was [minted in] 2016 or 2015, that’s more the question,” said Dr. Haim Gitler, chief curator of Archaeology and curator of Numismatics at the Israel Museum.

“There is no chance that it is authentic; it is not an ancient coin. Even to call it a coin is to exaggerate what it is,” Gitler stated, explaining that it is without doubt one of thousands of similar souvenir items minted by children as a Chanukah activity at the Israel Museum. Indeed, the markings the item in question bears are all 100-percent identical to the mold there.

Gitler noted that the replica of the ancient half-shekel the girl found cannot be called a “fake” coin “because it is not intentionally created to misrepresent” an actual coin. On the contrary, these are made for educational purposes, with one side deliberately left blank to prevent misidentification.