Assuaging Doubt

This is close to the perfect answer.

And absolutely, it's fair for a non-collector to ask about authenticity. This is similar to the question about an ancient coin's worth today, since most non-collectors will naturally think any coin 2000 years old must be worth a lot. Yes, they can be tiresome questions but at least acknowledge that they're normal questions and try to have a little patience for a newcomer. We were all newcomers at one time and even if we didn't explicitly ask these questions, we were all thinking them!

 

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Yah, I still can't believe that they're real ...

=> but at least we're all goin' down "together"!!

 

i would just be shocked that someone was actually interested in my coin besides me.

seriously.

 

well, I do like that one with the serpent (that one is pretty cool)



=> all of your coins rock, brother!!

 

thanks stevex!

i was thinking more of a person looking at coins i own in person. the few people i told about them (friends, family, even a couple couple of local history teachers i though that may be interested) have reacted like this...





i'm very thankful i have a place like this were there are other weirdos like me that like stuff like this.

 

I think we all are. It's a very lonely hobby otherwise. I am lucky I have an ancient coin club in my city. Between that and here I get to talk about all of my geeky stuff to others who understand.

It's funny how unlike others we are, and alike each other here. At my ancient coin club we had a new member who is from Murmansk Russia. When the whole group knew where Murmansk was, it's history, it's importance as a sub base, etc he was just shocked. He said he didn't know such Americans existed! Lol.

 

I've gotten a tremendously positive response from another attorney in the office building where I have my office. I stopped by his office with some of the Ancients I've gotten, as I know he is a history buff, and he was so into it that we talked about it for an hour, and at the end he asked me to purchase him a Roman coin with a Spanish motif and he'll reimburse me for it. I'm going to hunt for a Hadrian in Spain for him in January...and probably one for me too as I also have direct Spanish descent. My ancestors came from Spain to the new world 4 generations ago.

Off topic but interesting, according to a DNA test I recently took for my ancestry, I am 80% Iberian, 15% Italian, 4% northern European, and 1% undetermined)... I was kind of shocked a Cuban of Spanish descent could have so much Italian in him. Is there something one of my great grandmothers did and didn't tell?

 

If you want to show people coins, go with the Colosseo collection.

 

I just bought a Widow's Mite on e-bay for someone who expressed an interest in ancient coins and in this one particularly...gotta get them addicted!

 

ummm, can I see it? (or there aren't any cool coin-photos?)

Oh, and curious? => ummm, are either of these babies widow's mites?

Judaea Alexander Jannaeus AE Prutah
103-76 BC
Anchor & Star of eight rays


Judaea Herod Agrippa I AE Prutah
41-42 AD
Canopy & Three ears of grain


... the seller said that they were prutahs, but ...

 

Wow Steve. Usually these are so worn that I find no interest in them, but yours are amazing my friend. Great find. Thanks for sharing those pictures so I can get a good idea of what these coins would have looked like before they were worn almost flat like most you see people selling on EBay and biblical websites.

One does look however like a later Jewish coin, but the first is a widows mite, right?

 

=> ummm? ... hey, why all the questions?



Sadly, everytime that there is a thread, I end-up appending these two coins ... sadly, I'm not even sure if they're both "prutahs" .... half of the threads and the seller have called them prutahs, but then half of the threads have called them something else (which I always forget to write down)



... judgers

Coin-dudes => are these prutahs and/or are these widow's mites? (thanks in advance)

 

Prutah is singular, protoh is plural. They are both prutoh, but the only the coin of Alexander Jannaeus would be considered a widow's mite, among a few other types. That coin could have been circulating in Judaea during the period of the widow's mite story. The coin of Agrippa I was minted later.

The smallest denomination Hasmonean coins are also referred to as lepta, singular lepton.

 

I think the second one is a prutah. I got mine because I liked the colours. The third stalk may be hiding under the crud, but I think I will leave it where it is.

 

=> awesome, thanks JA .... ummm, but let's just wait a few minutes and see if anybody else has an opinion, shall we? (like I've mentioned earlier => there seem to be a few opinions on these Judean babies) ... but I like you and I hope that I can put this thingy to rest in this sweet thread (hi)

 

yah, I totally believe you, but sometimes I get all mixed-up ...

 

They are both considered Prutahs, the first is also called a widows mite. the Second is Hendin 1244, i'll try to find your other # later. Steve what is a Widows mite??

 

If I were looking for a coin of Spanish interest, I'd go for one of the Castulo or other city coins from the first century BC. Some show legends i the then current alphabet. There are several interesting types.

Second choice might be a coin of Claudius from the Spanish branch mints which have a distinctive non-Roman style.

Of course if you can go modern, the blanca of Ferdinand and Isabella are cheap unless very high grade. These are gifts for people you don't want to spend much on.

 

Doug's recommendations are always quite good ...

=> I definitely like his Castulo idea ...

Spain, Castulo Crescent Castele Series
Castulo & Sphinx
180 BC



ummm, but my favourite Spain example is probably this baby ...


Spain, Celsa, L Bag/Mn Flav "Duoviri" => Augustus, AE AS
Augustus & Bull
27 BC - 14 AD