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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 3579662, member: 75937&quot;]Well, yes and no. I recommend <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Widows%20Mite" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Widows%20Mite" rel="nofollow">this article</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>The coins commonly sold as &quot;widow&#039;s mites&quot; are these prutot (plural of prutah) of Alexander Jannaeus, from the early 1st century BC:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]955013[/ATTACH]</p><p>Alexander Jannaeus (Yehonatan), 103-76 BC.</p><p>Judean Æ Prutah, 2.25 g, 13.8 mm.</p><p>Jerusalem mint.</p><p>Obv: Hebrew inscription &quot;Yehonatan the High Priest and the Council of the Jews&quot; surrounded by wreath.</p><p>Rev: Double cornucopiae, pomegranate between horns.</p><p>Refs: Meshorer Group P; Hendin 1144.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]955014[/ATTACH]</p><p>Alexander Jannaeus (Yehonatan), 103-76 BC.</p><p>Judean Æ Prutah, 1.85 g, 13.7 mm.</p><p>Jerusalem mint.</p><p>Obv: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΛΕΧΑΝΔΡΟΥ around anchor.</p><p>Rev: Star of eight rays between which Hebrew legend, &quot;Yehonatan the King,&quot; all surrounded by diadem.</p><p>Refs: Meshorer Group K; Sear 6087; Hendin 1150.</p><p><br /></p><p>However, there are similar coins by Judah Aristobolus (late 2nd century BC) and John Hyrcanus (mid-1st-century BC) that resemble the Alexander Jannaeus ones and are also sold as &quot;widow&#039;s mites.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>These coins circulated for decades and may have been in circulation in Jesus&#039; lifetime. Hence, they might have been the coins the widow placed in the collection box.</p><p><br /></p><p>Your coin was minted during Jesus&#039; lifetime and would actually have a better claim to the designation &quot;widow&#039;s mite,&quot; but would be cataloged by the name of the procurator and sold as a prutah of Valerius Gratus and not as a &quot;widow&#039;s mite.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s only a matter of terminology in the coin trade. Mark 12:42 tells us nothing about the particular coin, though, reading:</p><p><br /></p><p>καὶ ἐλθοῦσα μία χήρα πτωχὴ ἔβαλεν λεπτὰ δύο, ὅ ἐστιν κοδράντης.</p><p>&quot;And one poor widow came and threw two leptons, which is a quadrans.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>The entire New Testament was written in Greek for Greek-speakers and typically uses Greek or Roman coin denominations. The lepton is a Greek denomination, not a Judean one, and it&#039;s an assumption (reasonable though it may be) that the author of Mark specifically meant a prutah when writing this verse.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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