MIL: COIN OF ISRAEL
25 mil, 1949: State of Israel
The first coin of modern Israel: design is based on the appearance of an ancient coin from the time of Simon bar Kokhba (the leader of the so-called Bar Kokhba Revolt or Third Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire, 2th century).
Date on coin: תש'ט — JE 5709 (JE: "Jewish calendar" — also called Hebrew calendar) = 1949 (Gregorian calendar).
The number 25 and the name of the denomination (mil) in Hebrew — מיל.
The denomination is duplicated in Arabic — ٢٥ ملا.
اسرائيل - ישראל: the name of the state Israel is indicated in two languages: Hebrew and Arabic.
Bunch of grapes.
Jerusalem Mint (Israel).
Mintage: 650.000.
- Aluminium: 30 mm - 3.4 g
- Reference price: 25$
COIN MIL — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- STATE OF ISRAEL (1948-1949): mil = 1/1000 pound (Palestine pound)
- BRITISH PALESTINE (1927-1947): mil = 1/1000 pound
- BRITISH HONG KONG (1863-1866): mil = 1/1000 dollar
- CYPRUS (1955-1982) — BRITISH CYPRUS + REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS: mil = 1/1000 pound
- REPUBLIC OF MALTA (1972-2007): mil = 1/10 cent = 1/1000 lira
MIL as coin name.
Mil (plural: mils) — historical small coin of a number of countries of the Mediterranean region (Israel, Cyprus, Malta), as well as Hong Kong. It was minted during the years 1863-2007. All the mentioned issuers have one thing in common — they all used to be part of the sphere of influence of the United Kingdom.
The very first mil was issued by British Hong Kong, — a Far Eastern colony of the United Kingdom. It was a bronze coin with a round hole in the center minted during 1863-1866.
In the future, the coin was issued only by the countries of the Mediterranean region.
Thus, during 1927-1947, mil was issued with the indicated issuer "Palestine". We are talking about Mandatory Palestine (British Palestine): a geopolitical entity created on the territory of historical Palestine as a result of the First World War, which from 1922 to 1948 was administered by the United Kingdom under the mandate of the League of Nations. The mandate extended to the territory of modern Israel (mostly), Jordan, and the State of Palestine. These coins are often assigned to the "Israel" section in numismatic catalogs.
By the way, it was the mil (25 mil 1948-1949) that became the very first coin of modern Israel.
The most common mil denomination coins can definitely be considered the change coins of Cyprus and Malta. In their main mass, these are very simple, common coins. Since 2008, these countries have been part of the Eurozone: the small coin mil was replaced by the euro cent.
The name of the mil coin has an etymology similar to other consonant names: millieme, millim... In each of the mentioned cases, the name comes from the Latin "millesimus" — "thousandth" or "thousandth part of". So, mil was 1/1000th of the corresponding currencies: Hong Kong dollar, Palestine and Cyprus pounds, Maltese lira.
