A silver shekel in circulation at the time of a Jewish rebellion against their Roman masters nearly 2,000 years ago sold Friday in New York for $1.1 million, Heritage auction house said.
The sale was a record for a Judean coin, fetching four times as much as the previous top price.
Heritage said a California dealer bought the coin on behalf of an unidentified, private American collector. It was part of the Shoshana Collection of more than 2,200 ancient Judean coins, which the auction house hopes to sell for a total of $10 million.
The silver shekel dates to 66 AD when Jewish forces were rebelling against Roman rule. Only one other such coin is known to have survived.
The shekel "is an incredible piece of history," said Cris Bierrenbach, at Heritage Auctions.
"This is literally one of the very first coins the Jewish rebels struck after they ousted the Romans from Jerusalem, sending shock waves through the empire."