Look what I found going through a bag of Israel 10 agorot KM# 158 coins

I have been dating Israel coins tonight. Getting things in order. And opened a bag of 10 agorot coins KM# 158. In the bag was a 10 agorot hanukhah KM# 173 1993 coin. I thought the hanukhah coins are non-circulating coins.

 Is this from a set - am I lucky? What are your thoughts?
            yours daryl

Just found a 1992 1/2 sheqel hanukhah Km#174 coin

I know they are not rare. I thought they were just hard to come by

I collect Israeli coins I can say there are many of those coins out of sets, so they are pretty common. Why would someone do this is still a mystery for me.

Every time I see an Israeli new shekel, I buy it. That's because, if I were to exchange them, they would be worth a little bit more than I paid for them. So I've amassed this pile of shekels:


There's about 53 coins in the pile, but only very recently did I find one Hanukka new shekel:


Although this isn't really statistically significant (maybe Israeli users would know better how common these coins are), it seems like Hanukka coins were made for circulation at some point, but they are still difficult to find. So that's why only about 1 in 50 of my Israeli coins commemorates Hanukka.

I think that Hanukka coins were made for circulation early on, but nowadays you only find them in sets. The mintages in the late 1980s and early 1990s are actually over 1 million, which is much too high for a sets-only coin:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces9575.html

But the modern mintages are under 10,000, which indicates to me that the Hanukka series is now only found in sets.

And, of course, I'm still waiting to find the elusive Maimonides commemorative new shekel.

Thank you both for your thoughts. very interesting

My grandpa was an accountant and he travelled a lot to Israel for a customer. About 8 years ago when I visited him, he gave me some Israëli coins and within them I found a Chanukka Sheqel. Mine's from 1990 and pretty well used and has some dirt on it. So I guess you can still them in circulation if you're lucky enough.