This 3D model, “Judah’s Treason Coin,” evokes the infamous “thirty pieces of silver” paid to Judas Iscariot for betraying Jesus, a phrase that has become a universal symbol of betrayal and contempt. While the exact historical coin type is debated, many scholars point to high‑purity Tyrian silver shekels as the most likely candidates, the same coinage used for the Jerusalem Temple tax.
Matthew 26:14–15 – Judas agrees on the price:
“Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, ‘What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?’ So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver.”
Matthew 27:3–5 – Judas returns the money in remorse:
Judas “brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders” and then threw the silver into the temple and went away.
Zechariah 11:12–13 – prophetic “thirty pieces of silver”:
The prophet receives “thirty pieces of silver” as his wages, then God tells him to “throw it to the potter,” and he throws it “in the house of the Lord.”
Laureate Melqart head right, eagle on prow clutching palm, ΤΥΡΟΥ ΙΕΡΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΣΥΛΟΥ inscription, standardized weight 14g for Judean purity standard. Tyre’s ancient mint produced high-purity silver shekels (about 94% silver) through a labor-intensive process starting with melting ingots in crucibles, pouring molten metal into multi-circle molds to form flans, then breaking and trimming these blanks for uniform weight. Workers heated the slightly malleable flans red-hot, placed them on a fixed anvil die (typically the obverse with Melqart-Herakles head), positioned a punch die (eagle on ship prow) atop, and hammered forcefully to imprint designs, creating characteristic flow lines and edge cracks from the sudden pressure. This hand-struck method under magistrates like those marking KRA (Jerusalem sub-mint post-19 BCE) ensured consistent quality for temple tax acceptance despite pagan imagery, dominating Judean circulation from 126 BCE to AD 66
The reconstruction captures a realistic First‑Century silver coin: worn edges, deep relief portrait and symbols, and a tangible sense of weight and value befitting roughly four months’ wages in silver. Ideal for biblical teaching, visual storytelling, and numismatic illustration, this piece allows viewers to “hold” in 3D the kind of coin associated with one of the most dramatic and tragic transactions in the Gospels.
