Hey All mighty Ancient collectors . LOL. I have a question or two . I have no knowledge of ancient coins but I've always been intrigued by the " Widows Mite " and its biblical story . My question is are they relatively inexpensive , where can I get one ? Thanks . Have a Magic Monday !!!
Here you go. If you hunt the internet you may find cheaper ones, but for $12 why bother: https://www.vcoins.com/en/Search.as...alse&Unassigned=False&searchOrderBy=price_asc
Hi Sal. Here is one I purchased slabbed. They always sell them at the yearly NYINC show which unfortunately was cancelled for 2021 due to COVID. Raw examples can go for $15 - $20 Bucks Better condition ones are a bit more. They have thousands for sale. And yes Sal.. I also dabble in Ancient Coins. I'm not a hardcore ancient collector but I have almost a dozen in my collection.
It figures ... Are you into Trains also ?? Thank you by the way, didn't know these were slabbed . Cheap too !!
When shopping for a Widow's Mite remember the rule of almost all collectables. Nice ones are more expensive than junky ones. In this case, 90% of the existing specimens are hardly more than scrap metal with barely enough detail to ID the coin. They were made quickly and carelessly. Of the top 10%, almost none are what you would call attractive and complete so those few sell for ten to a hundred times the price of the poor ones. The trick is not to pay a top 1% price for an average coin. Most people really do not care since the point of the Bible story is that the coins were nearly worthless and the poor ones fit that quite well. Don't listen to sellers who claim the coins are rare and that all MUST look 'that way'. Shop around. The most common type (Alexander Jannaeus below) has Greek legend on one side and Hebrew on the other. If you pay for one better than this (far from the finest!), be sure the coin is better. There are also types that are rare and sought after by specialists. Do you care?
Hey, what you started was a good thread with valuable information. I have dabbled in ancients and the comments here I expect would apply to other ancient coins as well.
It does have a religious connotation. I have a few slabbed and dated specimens of my own. Thank you for posting the Q&A.
Seriously, I want to thank everyone for posting . If I learn one thing a day then I'm that much more knowledgeable .
Sorry. I’m a mite late to the party. I paid something like $26 for four of these from a VCoins dealer eight years ago.
Back in the '90s a well-known American dealer claimed to have a ton of them, all from a single hoard. At ~1g each, that's a million coins more or less.
I'm not sure if this is ok, but I figured that I would throw it out there for the OP. If it is against forum rules, a mod can delete it. I have no connection to this listing. It's an eBay auction for a (IMO)cool looking Jannaeus 'widow's mite' that's ending in a couple of days. It's not a type that I'm personally interested in, other than as a curio place-filler. However, if I were in the market to acquire one, I like this one due to its sprue-tail(?) oblong shaped flan. I won't be bidding on it, but I figured that I would show to the OP. I've no idea what it might hammer for, but $20-25 seems fairly reasonable to me. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Old-Estate...696356?hash=item1cf8967d64:g:xLIAAOSwHrtfpywL
A nice Jannaeus: Alexander Jannaeus; 103-76 B.C.; Æ prutah, 14 mm. Obv: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΛΕΧΑΝΔΡΟΥ around anchor within a circle with Alexander's name, in Greek, around. Rev: Star of eight rays surrounded by a diadem; between the rays, Aramaic inscription "Yehonatan the King." Hendin 469
That is about as good as these get. People who care about this type will pay a premium for one in that condition.
PONTIUS PILATE Judaea Pontius Pilate 14-37 CE - Prutah TIBEPIOY KAICAPOC Lituus Hendin 1342 Judaea Pontius Pilate - Prutah Julia - IOYLIA KAICAPOC Julia Caesar - LIVIA wife of Augustus Hendin 1341
