Extremely Rare Crusader Coin Found in Jaffa

June 26, 2005

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced that the dig took place under the Jaffa Flea Market in preparation for construction work in today's Tel Aviv–Jaffa. The coin was found well over a year ago but was only recently identified by IAA specialists.

The find, a rare Frankish silver half drachma, is the first specimen to come from a controlled excavation. It was minted only during a very brief period in Frankish Acre, between 1251 and 1257, and was discovered in a domestic structure dating to the 13th century, with ceramics dating to the same period.

The half drachma carries a cross and an Arabic inscription. The legend, written in Cufic script, surprisingly pronounces the Trinity, the central doctrine of the Christian faith (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit). Both sides also contain four marginal legends with the Christian blessing “His is the glory for ever and ever,” which are all but obliterated.

The coin imitates the half dirhem struck in Damascus by the Ayyubids during the first half of the 13th century. In 1250, the papal legate, the bishop Eudes de Chateauroux, learned that the Franks were minting imitation coins with Muslim themes and ordered an end to the practice, requesting the pope in Rome to intervene personally.

Pope Innocent IV threatened to impose a ban and excommunicate all those striking such gold and silver coins mentioning the name of Muhammad and his birth date. To circumvent the papal prohibition, minters in Crusader Acre added Christian legends and symbols to their coins—as were found on the recent find.

Other finds at the site, which today houses a modern flea market, include a large Crusader-era town, a Crusader-era skeleton, and a Byzantine-period furnace used for forging metals.

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