Rare 1960 Israeli Agora Coin Sells for Over $33,000 at Auction

A rare trial specimen of a 1 agora coin from 1960 was sold at auction for $27,500, with the final price reaching approximately $33,700 (about 104,000 shekels) after a 22.5% auction commission. This price makes it one of the most expensive Israeli coins ever sold. Only about ten examples of this trial version of the agora, which features three ears of wheat, are known to exist. The Bank of Israel had commissioned these trial coins from a company in Birmingham, UK. The original design intended for the left ear of wheat to have eight grains, matching the other two. However, the bank's design committee later decided that the left ear should have ten grains, leading to the scarcity of the eight-grained versions. For comparison, a similar coin sold for about $6,000 twenty years ago. This particular coin should not be confused with the standard 1960 agora, which has the date in a larger font. While also rare, hundreds of these standard coins exist and are significantly less valuable, with one selling for around $500 in February 2023. Common 1960 agoras, of which approximately 13 million were minted, are typically sold by weight for about 15 shekels per kilogram.