Israeli coins

[KarenHolcomb]

Hey, can y'all tell me about these, please. I started looling them up and the very 1st one I thought I'd found wound up looking ever so differently. Since I'm not a World Coin enthusiast it seems easier to just out them away until I am ready to start that next adventure in coinage which is likely still years away. So I thought I'd ask you before moving on. Thanks a bunch!

[Mohawk]

Hey Karen!

Well, Israeli coins are the one type of Middle Eastern coin I know nothing about, so I can't help you there.  I can't read the lettering, I don't know how the dating works....nothing.  However, I can help with the two you have that aren't Israeli.  The 1954 dated coin is a Greek 5 Drachma from the reign of King Paul I.  It had a mintage of 21,000,000 and, in the grade your coin appears to be, a value of between 50 and 60 cents.  The 1963 dated coin is a Swedish 1 Kroner from the reign of King Gustaf VI Adolf.  That one is made of 40% Silver, so it's worth a couple of dollars.  There were 14,227,500 minted.  Now, if someone with more knowledge than I have can help you with the Israeli coins, you'll be all set!  I hope I was of at least some help!

Cheers!

~Tom

[JKK]

The first two are 1/2 Israeli lira (1965) and 1 Israeli lira (1969), respectively. This was their main currency before the shekel. In case you care, the lira symbol is like the pound symbol but with two hash marks. I write it Is₤1, for example. My Hebrew's pretty rusty, but not much is needed in order to make out Israeli coins; the main problem is the weird typeface they insist upon using at their mint. I probably will not write to them to complain. I do not reckon they would care very much about my views.

Next one down is a 10 agorot (cents, basically) from 1960. The country name is in Arabic and Hebrew on all three: no matter how many times you see some clod write 'Yisroel', it is pronounced 'ees-rah-EL' in Hebrew. The more alphabets you learn, the more you will learn how truly bad our media are at transliteration. They just try to make equivalent letters; they can't actually read the words.

In case you are not glazed over yet, one would articulate these with the feminine numbers, because 'lirah' and 'agorah' are feminine nouns. Thus, 'lirah achat israelit,' 'ehsair agorot,' etc. World coins are a vast field that will help you see the whole world and its history through the evolution of money.

On the rest, of course, Tom's got you.

[Mohawk]

Thanks for jumping in JKK!  I really appreciate it and I'm sure Karen does too!

[JKK]

The dates are in the Jewish era (JE) calendar. For example, the Is₤1 actually says it's from 5729. There's a table in the Israeli section of Krause that enables one to translate those. Without it, I'd be lost in the Judean desert. I was all right in Hebrew...in 1986. It's been a year or two.

Small thing, by the way, Tom: 'kronor' is the plural. If it's just one crown, it's a 'krona' in Swedish. Similar dynamics work in Norwegian and Danish, though with different vowels applying. (For example, in Swedish one says 'tackar' colloquially for 'thanks'; the translation is literal. But for 'thanks so much' one says 'tack så mycket,' which literally is 'thank so much'.

[Mohawk]

16 minutes ago, JKK said:

The dates are in the Jewish era (JE) calendar. For example, the Is₤1 actually says it's from 5729. There's a table in the Israeli section of Krause that enables one to translate those. Without it, I'd be lost in the Judean desert. I was all right in Hebrew...in 1986. It's been a year or two.

Small thing, by the way, Tom: 'kronor' is the plural. If it's just one crown, it's a 'krona' in Swedish. Similar dynamics work in Norwegian and Danish, though with different vowels applying. (For example, in Swedish one says 'tackar' colloquially for 'thanks'; the translation is literal. But for 'thanks so much' one says 'tack så mycket,' which literally is 'thank so much'.

That's good to know on all counts.  I obviously do not know any Hebrew......or Swedish for that matter of fact.  Languages have never been my strongest point.  I know a bit of German, a few words in Ottoman Turkish and a tiny, tiny bit of French.  I'll endeavor to remember the plural rule in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish when I am helping with coins from those nations.  As far as Israeli coins.......I'll look at the table in my Krause, but I'll likely stay on the sidelines there!  There is definitely more to coins than dating them, and I know when I'm beat.  Israeli coins have defeated me  

[Joydeep]

Well...in my opinion....one can get a close enough translation of the lettering on their own with the help of the free tools that are available online itself (atleast that helped me a lot regarding Middle Eastern, Chinese & Russian coinage). Just find a suitable Keyboard Tool & type in the exact letters as you see on the coin & then copy that onto Google or Bing Translate to get a suitable translation. Its not perfect but you will get a good estimate.

For example, here is a Hebrew Keyboard.

[Mohawk]

17 minutes ago, joydeep said:

Well...in my opinion....one can get a close enough translation of the lettering on their own with the help of the free tools that are available online itself (atleast that helped me a lot regarding Middle Eastern, Chinese & Russian coinage). Just find a suitable Keyboard Tool & type in the exact letters as you see on the coin & then copy that onto Google or Bing Translate to get a suitable translation. Its not perfect but you will get a good estimate.

For example, here is a Hebrew Keyboard.

That's an interesting tool to know about.  I'll give it a try next time someone has a question about Israeli coins. I myself do not collect them as my Middle Eastern collecting is solely focused on the Ottoman Empire and Turkey.  However, I am interested in Japanese coins for my own collecting, and I think this tool would help me with those as well!  Thanks for sharing that!

Cheers

~Tom 

[KarenHolcomb]

Wow guys. My head actually hurts right now. Lol! JKK, you are probably the most knowledgeable, about just everything, human I have the honor of knowing, kind of. Let me just say to you all that....I already had all this figured out thanks to Google Lens. But not with the great storyteller on the side. Gosh why did I stop coming here? I do enjoy you guys. 

Lance and JoyDeep, nice to meet ya.

Let me just say, as they would in Israel-at least part of it,  'tack sa myckets' for all your input. 

[JKK]

On 2/9/2019 at 9:31 PM, KarenHolcomb said:

Let me just say, as they would in Israel-at least part of it,  'tack sa myckets' for all your input. 

That's how they say it in the Swedish quarter of Jerusalem. Holdover from deserters from the Varangian Guard.

I'm kidding.