Yet another Widows Mite

This coin is as common as dirt. It is the ultimate roach of the ancient numismatics world. Probably hundreds of millions were struck, and they were so mass produced most were poorly struck and a small minority even left the mint as blanks. Ancient mint workers were told to mass produced the heck out of them, and it was all about quantity and not quality.

They are so common that companies make an entire business out of selling them to naive people with no numismatics knowledge at grossly inflated prices, and there are literally hundreds of them on eBay, vcoins, and other places.

These were so common in fact that people continued using them in commerce for 200 years after they were minted. So why did I buy one? I'm not very religious after all, and this is not exactly the most exciting ancient coin out there. Well, like most other owners of one I suppose the Bible sold it to me. It doesn't matter that I'm not particularly over-religious, it's still cool to have a coin mentioned in a 2000 year old book as important as the Bible.

Alexander Jannaeus, 103-76 BC
AE lepton, 2.7g, 16mm; Jerusalem mint.
Obv.: Hebrew script between Star rays (YHNTN HMLK) = “Yehonatan the king," surrounded by royal diadem.
Rev.: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝ∆ΡΟΥ (of King Alexander in Greek), anchor upside-down as if hanging on the side of a boat.
Reference: Meshorer Group K; Hendin 1150.

So show us your roaches...I mean leptons. I know most of you ought to have one hidden somewhere. Some if you like @Deacon Ray literally have enough of them to fill a 15,000 gallon pool to the brim. Time for show and tell!

 

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Nice one!

I have one also, but not as good as yours. However, I cannot complain... it was given to me by my LCS.

Although...

I am DEFINITELY using this "attribute" in some of my future postings! Perhaps it is a new Ancients Grade!!!


Judaea
Alexander Janneaeus 103-76 BCE
AE Prutah Wheel
Widows Mite
Comment:

 

LOL, fixed. Darn autocorrect.

 

Alexander Jannaeus
AE Prutah
13 x 14 mm; 1.90 g
103-76 BC
Sear 6087; Hendin 1150

 

LOL, NOPE, NOT fixed... edified in my post... FOREVER!!!

I disabled Auto-correct, Siri, and all those monsters on my phone and tablets LONG ago. When I screw up words, it is ALL on me!

I have had severe dyslexia since a child... so I FORCED myself to learn things!

 

Like the detail on this one. I'm not into ancient Judaean but you and especially @Deacon Ray are making me reconsider not having at least one in my collection! (I used to have one in the name of Tiberius and Pontius Pilate but it was in very rough shape so later on I ended up selling it).

 

As a generalist, I'd be doing myself a disfavor by ignoring Judeans. If I can have obscure ancient Indian and Asian coins in my collection that most people have never heard of, why should I ignore Judean coins? It makes no sense.

 

blah-blah

 

That is awesome. My Chinese Zodiac sign is the Pig or Boar.

I was in China several times in 2007... the Year of the Golden Pig...

"The year 2007 is the "Year of the Pig," according to the Chinese zodiac. But it's not an ordinary pig year, which comes every 12 years it is believed to be the "Year of the Golden Pig," which comes every 600 years, according to fortunetellers."

Fun.

 

I'd like to have a bucket of them as fine a quality as the one you've posted! Yours is way above average!

 

Way to go, Sallent! That is a great Widow's Mite!

The Widow's Mite is definitely one of my favourite coins. I have a few of them.

This is probably my most interesting mite. I've posted it here a few times. It's a flip over double strike.


Erin

 

this "mite" be one, but i don't think it's a design like OP's or others. perhaps @Deacon Ray can shed some lite on this coin. i don't have to go far to find coins like this, i found this on my table

 

While I appreciate the moral of the story of the widow, I do kind of feel sorry no one gave her coin to reward her for her piety. Yes, the story earned her a sort of immortality, but she still went hungry. A few coins' gift as well as the praise from Jesus would have been much sweeter than nice words yet lack of coin for food.

 

What is it that makes us associate Alexander Jannaeus with the Biblical coin? After all, mites were made continuously from well before Alexander Jannaeus to Pontius Pilate coins of the time of Christ. The Bible tells us of two coins with no clue as to design but the anchor/wheel type is always what people show. There are even otherdesigns also issued by Alexander Jannaeus. The story points out that the two coins were of minimal value so it might make sense to select the tiny copies that are hard to read compared to the rather well executed anchor/wheels but I know nothing about how these passed in commerce. Did all the examples shown here pass as the same value? We see some distinction made between lepta and prutah but there is a huge difference in metal within each. Comments anyone?

Alexander Jannaeus' other type


The usual but showing more Hebrew letters between wheel spokes than most.

 

The fact that they are so plentiful that you can get them cheap, hold mass marketing campaigns, and sell them at grossly inflated prices by the boatload to gullible people with little knowledge of numismatics, and plenty of coin to pay for these "sacred coins".

Same with the coin we call the "Tiberius Tribute Penny". Why that one and not another Tiberius Denarius? Or why not an Augustus Denarius which would have also been circulating there at the time? Or why not a provincial tetadrachm of Tiberius or Augustus? Simple, because that is a common issue and can be readily marketed and sold at overinflated prices to people who lack numismatics knowledge, but have pockets full of coin ready to be spent on what they believe to be a sacred coin held by Jesus himself.

The Bible doesn't tell is the actual coins used in either case. But if there's one thing I've learned as a believer, it is that there are tons of people who profess faith, but are nothing but scammers waiting to rip off their fellow believers. I've probably been the victim of such scams in the past too when I was a more fervent follower. I'm still a believer, but more careful about the stuff people try to tell me I need, especially when it involves me departing with ready coin and them pocketing said coins, to be spent on God knows what.

Regardless of whether the OP coin is the true widows mite or not, it is still a nice and interesting coin, and I'm glad I made purchase of it.

I apologise if I offended anyone. I'll leave it at this and won't tread further for fear of running foul of the graces of our mediators on this forum.

 

It all just boils down to personal preference. I might be called close-minded but I don't collect Judean, Indian, and Asian coins because the history/culture doesn't interest me on a level that Roman, Greek, Byzantine, and Germanic do. Simple as that. I've been getting more interested in the ancient history of the Near East lately so I think this has something to do with my slight desire for one of these Judean coins.

 

Don't get me wrong, I see your point. The Judean kingdoms, and most Asian Kingdoms don't come close to Rome and Greece as far as greatness, rich history, art and architecture, and power.

Pretty much the only Empires that come close or equal Rome and Greece in all those aspects were the Ancient Egyptians, Chinese, Persians, Parthians, and Sassanian. Everything else just pails in comparison.

If it wasn't for the Bible and Christianity, probably 90% of us would have never heard of the old Judean kingdoms and their ancient culture, or the Philistines, and other minor tribes that lived in the area over 2,000 years ago.

Still, that's never stopped me from collecting coinage of these lesser ancient cultures I might not care much for. While I may not collect too many coins from those kingdoms, it's still nice to have at least a handful of representational examples.

 

I agree that there are other bronze coins that could qualify as Widow's Mites. I think the star and anchor symbols make the Janneaus lepton and prutah the popular choices however. Although the anchor symbol predates Christianity—Christians have adopted the anchor as a symbol of Hope and Salvation. The symbol that we call an anchor today is actually a "Mariner's Cross" and is considerably different from the Levantine anchor on the prutah. The star symbol of course represents the Star of Bethlehem. Let me add that I don't agree with the popular belief that the Jannaeas coins were the Widow's Mites. They could be. Whatever they were is not important to me. I use them only as a teaching tool. I give them away to folks who I think could benefit from the lesson. I don't sell them.