Una moneda fenicia de más de dos mil años se uso para pagar el billete de autobús en Leeds

https://elblodgeilabasmati.com/2026/0... How it got there will always remain a mystery. This ancient coin was probably minted in what is now Spain in the 1st century BC, but no one knows why it was used to pay for a transport ticket in the 1950s. An intriguing coin deposited in a bus driver's fare box in England in the 1950s turned out to have ancient origins: it was minted 2,000 years ago in what is now southern Spain. Now, more than 70 years later, the grandson of the former transport cashier has donated the mysteriously acquired coin to a museum. The cashier, James Edwards, worked for Leeds City Transport and was responsible for collecting and counting tickets from bus and tram drivers. Whenever he discovered counterfeit or foreign coins, he would bring them home for his grandson, Peter. Peter Edwards said in a statement on March 9: “None of us were coin collectors, but we were fascinated by their origins and images; to me, they were treasures.” But one coin in particular intrigued Peter, whose research into the designs revealed that it was minted more than 2,000 years ago in a Phoenician settlement called Gadir (modern-day Cádiz) in Andalusia, Spain. Gadir was founded by the Phoenicians, who also settled in Carthage, in modern-day Tunisia, as their first colony in Western Europe in the 12th century BC. Gadir came under Carthaginian control after the First Punic War in the early 3rd century BC, and subsequently under Roman rule less than a century later. The obverse of the bronze coin depicts the face of the god Melqart—a Phoenician deity and the principal deity of Gadir, Carthage, and Tyre—wearing the lion-skin headdress of Hercules. The reverse features two bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), likely a reference to the importance of the fishing industry in Gadir. Edwards said: “It’s unclear how the coin arrived in Leeds, but it wasn’t long after the war, so I imagine soldiers returned with coins from the countries they had been posted to.” Edwards has donated the coin to Leeds Museums and Galleries so that experts can study it as part of the museum’s ancient coin collection. Kat Baxter, curator of archaeology and numismatics at the museums, confirmed in the statement that the coin is approximately 2,000 years old and was minted in Gadir. Leeds councillor Salma Arif said in a statement: “Museums like ours don’t just preserve objects; they also tell stories like this and inspire visitors to reflect on the history around us, sometimes in the most unexpected places.” Edwards added: “My grandfather would be proud, as I am, to know that the coin will be returning to Leeds. However, how it got there will always remain a mystery.”