The Coin of Coins. A World Premiere

Haim Gitler

Soft cover, 48 pages

English / Hebrew

This publication accompanies the exhibition "The Aitna Tetradrachm. The Coin of Coins" at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

The Israel Museum was honored to host the premiere exhibition of the world's most valuble coin, the Aitna tetradrachm. Struck in the mid-fifth century BCE in the ancient city of Aitna, located at the foot of Mt. Etna in Sicily, this coin is the masterwork of one of the finest die-engravers of all time.

Regarded as the "Mona Lisa" of the numismatic world, the Aitna tetradrachm was formely in the collection of Lucien de Hirsch, son of the Jewish philanthropist Baron Maurice de Hirsch. It was bequeathed to the Cabinet des M©dailles, Biblioth¨que royale de Belguque, Brussels, in 1899, and it has not left the premises of the Biblioth¨que royale, nor has it been exhibited to the public, since that time.

The Aitna tetradrachm was displayed in the exhibition together with other coins attributed to the "Master of Aitna" from the collection of the Biblioth que royale, as well as ancient maps of Sicily from the collection of The Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem, and related objects from the Israel Museum's holdings.