NEW YORK, NY.- A unique collection of 38 ancient silver coins, all struck in consecutive years spanning the years commonly believed to be the lifetime of Jesus, called The Collection of a Lifetime, will be offered by Heritage Auctions in New York on Jan. 5, 2015.

The collection is part of Heritage’s Platinum Night World & Ancient Coins Auction, at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, in conjunction with the New York International Numismatic Convention (NYINC).

“To our knowledge, a set like this has never been put together before, and could not be duplicated at present,” said David Michaels, Director of Ancient Coins for Heritage. “The coins span the time of the birth, ministry and death of Jesus of Nazareth. They circulated in the Holy Land where he and his Apostles lived.”

The collection of 38 shekels of Tyre, the main silver coin used in ancient Judaea, was assembled by noted numismatist Frank L. Kovacs of Corte Madera, California, over about a 25-year period.

“I took this as a numismatic challenge,” said Kovacs, who has been a dealer, author, and authority on the authenticity of ancient coins for more than 50 years, “to put together a set that no one had ever assembled before.”

“Heritage will offer The Collection of a Lifetime as a single lot of 38 coins,” said Michaels. “It’s great historical value lies in the completeness of the group – a series of coins minted in consecutive years between 5-4 BCE, the most likely year for the birth of Jesus, and 33-34 CE, believed to be the year of the Crucifixion.”

Tyre, an important trade city on the Phoenician coast (now in Lebanon), began striking silver shekels after it won its independence from Greek rule in 126 BCE.

“This is one of the very few Ancient coin series dated in consecutive years, like today’s coins,” Michaels said.

The year of issue is written in Greek letter-numerals on the reverse of the coin, the year 1 (A, alpha) – beginning midway through 126 BCE – is equivalent to our 126/5 BCE; year 2 (B, beta) is 125/4 BCE, and so on. The shekels in the ‘Lifetime’ collection start with Year 122 (5/4 BCE) and conclude with Year 159 (33/4 CE).

Each shekel contains about 14 grams of silver and is about the diameter of a modern quarter, although much thicker. The obverse depicts a laureate head of Phoenician god Melqart, whose name means “king of the city (Tyre),” their version of the Greek Herakles. The reverse depicts an eagle standing on a ship’s prow.

These shekels feature prominently in many Gospel accounts, most notably the scene in which Judas betrays Jesus and receives 30 pieces of silver in payment. The coins portrayed in the account were almost certainly shekels of Tyre. In another scene (Matthew 17:24-27), Jesus plucks a shekel from the mouth of a fish to pay his Temple tax.

“I was fortunate to be able to see many large groups of shekels and was able to locate many dates that were previously unrecorded,” said Kovacs. “In fact, one coin in the collection, dated Year 154 (28/29 CE), is the only one known to exist.”

“These were coins that circulated widely in the Holy Land during momentous moments in the history of Western Civilization and several world religions,” Michaels said. “What are the chances Jesus himself, or one of his disciples – or one of the other figures mentioned in the New Testament – actually touched or held one of these coins? Given the confined time period, circulation area and population, the odds are probably not as long as you think.”