1960 1 Agora with 8 Grains. Incredibly rare. In 1960, the Bank of Israel introduced a new scalloped aluminum coin with a 1 agora denomination. The design featured three stalks of barley. During the initial design phase, the trial minting (or pattern coin) struck by Imperial Chemical Industries in Birmingham, England, depicted eight grains on the left barley stalk. However, the Bank of Israel's design committee ultimately decided to change the look, mandating that the left stalk contain ten grains instead. The 10-grain version became the standard coin released to the public. Because the design was altered before mass production, only a tiny handful of the 8-grain pattern coins were ever saved, with only 10 examples known. Rosenblum wrote about this coin in the catalog for his July 11, 2016 sale: "See Haffner (1970, pages 70-71), Magnus-Kagan (1988 pages AG-3 and AG-4), KM-PN3 (mintage 1). Nice Uncirculated with minor marks on both sides and light striations across the barley ears. This is most likely from the ICI mint archives. Of extreme rarity. Pop 2, The coin is photo in the PCGS pop. report. PCGS graded Specimen 63. Estimated Value $4,000 - UP Ex. William Rosenblum July 11, 2016 Holyland Sale of the Century.
Israel - The Holyland Sale of the Century
