1958 ISRAEL 5 LIROT P31a PMG 67 EPQ SUPERB GEM UNC

Description

1958 ISRAEL 5 LIROT P31a PMG 67 EPQ  SUPERB GEM UNC
5
Lirot
Obverse:  laborer
Reverse:  "Roaring Lion" Seal of Shema, servant of King Jeroboam II (8th century BC)
Dominant color:  brown
Dimensions:  140 x 78 mm
Signatures:  David Horowitz, Governor Bank of Israel; Yitzhak Nebenzahl, Chairman Advisory Council
Printers (unverified):  Thomas de la Rue, London
For the obverse of the 5 Lirot (Bank of Israel series II) banknote, the figure of a laborer holding a sledgehammer with industrial structures in the background was chosen as the main subject. Several men were photographed. Three pictures were combined to create the figure on the banknote.
The origin and whereabouts of the the seal depicted on the banknote's reverse remain one of the greatest mysteries of Holy Land archaeology since 1903, when it was discovered at Megiddo by Gottlieb Schumacher, a German railway engineer (the Dera'a to Haifa branch line of the Hejaz railway was built under his management) cum archaeologist, born in a Templar community in Haifa. The seal shows in great detail the King of Beasts, and is inscribed with the words "Shema Servant of Jeroboam". As two kings with the same name, Jeroboam I and Jeroboam II, ruled the northern Kingdom of Israel, it is believed that Shema was a high official of King Jeroboam II (8th Century BC). Shortly after its discovery, Schumacher presented the seal as a gift to the Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II. Since then the "Seal of Shema" has mysteriously vanished, never to be seen again. A plaster copy was made prior to its handover to the sultan, preserving this beautiful piece of Biblical history for posterity.
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