Israel 10 Lirot Hanukka Lamp from Damascus Silver .500 Coin 1974 BU 34mm KM# 78

Description

Israel 10 Lirot Hanukka Lamp from Damascus Silver .500 Coin 1974 BU 34mm KM# 78
Description:
The ninth in the series of Hanukka coins depicts a Damascus lamp dating from the 18th Century. Syria, which gained its independence in 1946, made life impossible for its Jewish minority. Of thirty thousand Jews who lived there, some twenty thousand made their way to Palestine within two years, and during the 1950s, another five thousand managed to escape. The Syrian Hanukka lamp was meant to serve as a reminder that the remnants of the Jewish communities in Damascus, Allepo and Kamishli were slowly dying in captivity, locked in ghettos, exposed to humiliation, denied elementary rights, cut off from any source of livelihood, awaiting the day they could emerge from darkness into light, from servitude to freedom.
Obverse:
Within an incuse, depicting a three arched gate - the par value "10 Lirot" and above, the date "5735-1974". Leaves adorn the lamp and the word "Israel" appears in Hebrew, Arabic and English.
Reverse:
Within the center, the front of the Damascus lamp is embossed inside an incuse figure of a gate with three arches. On both sides of the gate, two pillars adorned by panels. The eight-branched lamp is surrounded by fronds and leaves. Between the leaves, towards the upper part of the gate, two birds are perched and between them, a rosette. On a semi-circle, beneath the lamp, the legend: "An 18th Century Hanukka lamp from Damascus."
Edge:
The B.U. has a smooth edge. The proof is milled.
Mint Marks:
On the obverse of the B.U. coin, the Star of David and on the obverse of the proof coin, the letter "mem" on the centre bottom rim.
Mintage:
74,112 coins.
Metal:
Silver/500, 20gm,  34 mm.
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