Trove of 5 and 10 Mil Palestine Eretz Israel Coins 1927-1946

This is a lot of 122 coins of 5 and 10 Mils ranging in years from 1927 to 1946. Most of the coins are in Very Fine to Fine condition. They were found hidden by a Jerusalemite in the floor of his father’s house in the early 1960’s. This man’s father was a money changer in Jerusalem during the British Mandate Period. He had a shop first in the Old City and then on Jaffa Road. The coins were found by his son in tin cans ensconced in a hole dug under the bed. The British Mandate in the land of Israel began in the year 1917 and continued until the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. During the first ten years of the British mandate the money used was the Egyptian pound that was in use in the region during the Ottoman reign. In 1926 the government of Britain decided to establish a special council to plan and design bills and coins for the use of the population in the British Mandate areas in Eretz Israel. The council decided that the basic coin will be called a pound; one pound will be 1000 Mils. In November 1927 the new money was brought from Britain and contained bills in the values of 500 Mils (half pound), 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 pounds and also coins in the values of 1, 2, 5, 10, 50, 100 Mils. Coins in the values of 5, 10, 20 Mils were minted from an alloy of metal called Cupronickel made of 75% copper, 25% nickel. A hole was designed in the center of the coins, surrounded by an olive branch wreathe. In 1927 about ten million coins of 5 Mils were minted, approximately five million coins of 10 Mills, and approximately a million and half coins of 20 Mils. In each consecutive year several tens of thousands of coins were added. The coins minted in 1947 were all melted down