*4.5. Yehud Gerah Type 5 O1/R5*

SEM observations of the Type 5 O1/R5 coins revealed areas of preserved silver metal, with the reverse showing the image of an owl (Figure 9a), where the dark areas according to BSE mode are covered with oxides and corrosion products and the bright areas represent shiny silver metal (Figure 9b). Parallel cracks were observed on the surface of coin IMJ 27388, probably resulting from the striking process and local embrittlement of the silver metal due to local corrosion attack (Figure 9c,d).

The SEM-EDS analysis results of two specimens of the Yehud *gerah* Type 5 O1/R5 coin surfaces (obverse and reverse) revealed that the coins were composed of silver, though other elements were also detected, including Cu, O, Si, Cl, Al, and S (Supplementary Materials, Table S5).

The alloy of the Yehud *gerah* Type 5 O1/R5 coins after omitting the peaks of oxides, corrosion products, and soil elements revealed a composition of 97.6–100 wt% Ag and up to 2.4 wt% Cu, where the average composition value of the alloy of the coins was 99.7 ± 0.8 wt% Ag and 0.3 ± 0.8 wt% Cu (where 14 different areas of the coins' obverse and reverse sides were measured).

**Figure 9.** SEM images of the Yehud *gerah* Type 5 O1/R5 reverse side with the image of an owl: (**a**) coin IMJ 34558 (SE mode), where the areas inside the squares 1–4 were examined by EDS analysis; (**b**) coin IMJ 34558 (BSE mode); and (**c**,**d**) coin IMJ 27388 with parallel cracks.
