Customs at Ben Gurion Airport: dozens of old notes and coins caught

Dozens of bills and old coins, some extremely rare, in a quantity which was suspected of commerce, were caught last week by the passenger's baggage inspectors at the customs of Ben Gurion Airport in the baggage of an Israeli who had flown in from the U.S..

The smuggler, a resident of Givat Shmuel, aged 36, passed through the green channel and was detained for a routine checkup. A search of his bag found banknotes and old and rare coins, as from notes which were printed and used in the ghettos during World War II, through coins 150 years old from Hawaii to gold coins dating back over 300 years – on all of which he did not declare nor pay taxes legally.

Among the "loot" which was caught: Bills for 2 Marks from the Lodz ghetto in Poland from 1940, a bill for 100 cents Gutshein from the Westerbork concentration camp in Netherlands from 1944, a banknote of 500 Mill from Palestine from 1929, a silver coin 1 Thaler of Bavaria from 1771, a 40 Raiz coin from Brazil from 1822, a coin for the amount of 1/4 Hawaiian dollar from 1883, 250 'Prutah' bills from Israel for 1953, 1/4 Dinar from Iraq in 1931, Syrian banknotes from the years 1939-42, a banknote for 50 Swiss Franc from 1924, 20 dollar bills from the British territory in the Caribbean from 1959, a 22k 1/2 gold coin from Guinea Kingdom of 1695, 20 mil coins from Palestine from the years 1927-35, and more.

The suspect was taken to a preliminary showing that he is employed by a company which leases the secure transfer of diamonds, jewelry and money. He claims he is a collector of coins and banknotes.

The banknotes and coins were transferred for evaluation by an art appraiser, who valued the smuggled antiquities at the market value of $ 23,000. After the investigation it will be decided regarding further steps to be taken against the passenger.

Photos taken by the art appraiser for Customs

Israeli liras from the years 1948 to 1955



שטר ממחנה הריכוז ווסטרבורק הולנד 1944






שטרות מגטו לודג בפולין 1940

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