I received an order of Jannaeus coins. These are of the type referred to as Widow's Mites. We've had discussions about this before on the forum and I agree with many of the members that there are many other candidates for the Widow's Mite title. Actually, most of the coins in my Judaean collection qualify. My thoughts about why the Jannaeas lepton and prutah are the popular choices is because the star and the anchor are both considered Christian symbols even though they were struck seventy to one hundred years before the date we accept as the birth date of Jesus of Nazareth. Here's a Hendin 1150 and images of my latest Widow's Mite acquisitions on the second panel. I've included the words of the Scripture in The Word translation to hilight the nonspecific description of the coins. Hendin 1150, 1151, 1152, and 1153 all feature star and anchor devices.
Great prutah! @Roman Collector —do you really have seven hundred and something ancient coins? Are they all Roman?
Yes, I have more than 700 coins, about 95% of which are Roman. Some here have collections with thousands of coins.
Actually, I just remembered that I have more than I thought. I have about a hundred of the same type of coin.
Hi @NLL—great to see you posting again! Lots of the coins in the photo are cornucopia prutot which are not the ones traditionally considered Widow's Mites (star and anchor variety) When I give coins as gifts—I usually include prutot with the cornucopia images—mainly for variety. I purchased several bulk lots of Judaean coins last year from Israel and Jordan. There are a few VCoins dealers who will sell bulk lots of Widow's Mites if you inquire about them.
Thanks, Erin! The same goes for me. The Jannaeus Judaean Widow's Mite was the first ancient coin that I owned. I never dreamed it would lead to my Judaean coin fever
Great thread, as always, Deacon Ray! I really like these little coins. Got one too. Here my "widow's mite", very very humble... Bronze lepton, Hendin 1153, Jerusalem mint, 95 - 76 BC; obverse anchor with two crossbars inside circle of dots; reverse star of eight rays surrounded by diadem. But this type of coin is more a lepton than a prutah. I believe that by definition, the "official" widow's mite must be a lepton.
But I also have a Alexander Jannaeus' prutah: Bronze prutah, Hendin 1145, Meshorer TJC P, Meshorer AJC E, 1.92g, Jerusalem mint, obverse Hebrew inscription, Yehonatan the High Priest and the Council of the Jews, within wreath; reverse double cornucopia adorned with ribbons, pomegranate between horns. Despite the poor conservation, what I really like about this coin are the Aramaic legends. And the reserse shows a pomegranate, that seems to have a strong symbolism in the Judaism: the fruits which the scouts brought to Moses to demonstrate the fertility of the "promised land", or symbolize the mystical experience in the Jewish mystical tradition (kabbalah), and Some Jewish scholars believe the pomegranate was the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. But I wonder if the cornucopiae are in fact cornucopiae or crossed horns (shofar).
Nice lepton! Yes, I've always heard that the lepton is the type of coin referred to in the Scriptures because it was the smallest Judaean denomination. Great to see you posting again, @Multatuli !
Most definitely lepton, not prutah. In the Greek New Testament, both Mark (Mark 12:42) and Luke (Luke 21:2) use the word lepton.
