JERUSALEM (VINnews) — A rare 2,500-year-old coin minted in ancient Cyprus has been discovered on a beach in the Israeli city of Ashdod, marking the first known find of its kind in Israel, the Israel Antiquities Authority said.

The coin was found about a month ago by Avi Chaprak, deputy director of Ashdod’s Beaches Department, while he was searching for personal belongings lost by beachgoers. Instead of jewelry or keys, Chaprak spotted what turned out to be an ancient coin and reported it to the antiquities authority, as required under Israeli law.

Experts identified the coin as a silver-plated “siglos” minted in the ancient city of Salamis on Cyprus’ eastern coast around the mid-5th century B.C., when the island was under Persian rule.

According to Yanniv David Levy, a researcher and curator in the authority’s Coin Department, the approximately 11-gram coin initially appeared to be solid silver but was found to be made of base metal coated with silver, a practice documented in Cypriot coinage of the period because of silver shortages on the island.

One side of the coin depicts a recumbent ram facing left. The reverse features a ram’s head inside a sunken square, alongside a laurel branch and three symbols believed to be written in the ancient Cypriot syllabic script.

Levy said Persian-era coins of this size are rare in the archaeological record because many were cut into smaller pieces for use in local trade. He said the discovery of a complete example along Israel’s Mediterranean coast is especially unusual and offers valuable insight into regional commerce.

Evangeline Markou, an expert on ancient Cypriot coinage at the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Athens, said Salamis coins circulated throughout the eastern Mediterranean, but discoveries with a well-documented origin are uncommon. She said the find could provide important evidence of trade and maritime connections between Cyprus and the Land of Israel during the 5th century B.C.

Levy said the documented circumstances of the discovery make the coin a reliable source for studying economic and maritime links in the eastern Mediterranean about 2,500 years ago.

Chaprak received a certificate of appreciation from the Israel Antiquities Authority for reporting and surrendering the coin.

“I am happy that I was privileged to be part of a discovery of historical value,” Chaprak said in a statement. “For me, it was clear that the coin belonged to our collective heritage, so I immediately delivered it to the Israel Antiquities Authority.”