Carthaginian coin used to pay bus fare donated to Leeds Museum

"My grandfather would come across coins which were not British and put them to one side, and when I went to his house, he would hand me a few. It was not long after the war, so I imagine soldiers returned with coins from countries they had been sent to. Neither of us were coin collectors but we were fascinated by their origin and imagery to me they were treasure."

"The obverse features a portrait of Melqart, patron deity of the Phoenician city of Tyre, wearing the Nemean lion-skin headdress of Herakles. The reverse features two tuna fish with an inscription reading minted in Agadir above them."

"My first thought when I found out its origin was that I would like to return it to an institute where it could be studied by all, and Leeds Museums and Galleries kindly offered to give it a good home. My grandfather would be proud to know, as I am, that the coin is coming back to Leeds."

A rare bronze coin struck in Carthaginian Gadir (modern Cadiz, Spain) in the 1st century B.C. was used to pay a bus fare in 1950s Leeds. James Edwards, chief cashier of Leeds City Transport, collected unusual coins from daily fares and gave some to his grandson Peter Edwards. Peter kept the coins in a wooden chest for decades without knowing the Carthaginian coin's origin. Recent research identified it as featuring Melqart, the Phoenician deity, with tuna fish on the reverse. Peter donated the coin to Leeds Museums and Galleries, where it joins the collection at Leeds Discovery Centre. The coin's journey to Leeds remains unexplained.

Read at www.thehistoryblog.com