OK..........watching The Bishops Wife (as we speak) and was just wondering if any of you fine fellows could post a few examples (photogs). Lovely, and thanks (in advance) for doing so. Compliments of the season.......
The Widow’s Mite is my absolute favourite ancient coin! I have a few of them. These are ones I got from Deacon Ray that I keep at my place: Merry Christmas! Erin
Here's a variety, though they are mostly prutot, what is an actual "Widow's Mite" is a smaller subset.
From my conversations with @Deacon Ray, that first one I showed is "what many folks classify as textbook Widow's Mites (Jannaeus lepta) although in the broader sense all of them could be" (quoted from The DR). Here's another traditional textbook "Widow's Mite"... I think this one is cool cuz of the almost lightning bolt style anchor.
In the notes in Gavin's post, it mentions "A lepton is usually about the same diameter as a pencil eraser." To illustrate that, here are the two I shared alongside a pencil eraser.
ANTIOCHUS VII (Seleukid Kingdom) Prutah OBVERSE: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΟΥ ; Anchor, date below, ΑΠΡ (year 181) REVERSE: Lily Struck at Jerusalem, Judea 132-130 BC 5.2g, 16mm
The coin in the movie is a bronze coin of Trajan. He ruled from January 98 (AD) to August 117 (AD). We had a post on the movie coin here: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/coin-quiz-from-the-bishops-wife-a-coin-movie-for-christmas.272080/ or you can read about it on my blog - http://rrdenarius.blogspot.com/ My widow's mites (Judaean Prutot of Alexander Jannaeus, 103 to 76 BC) are not as good as other folks here:
Merry Holiday, @green18 ! Here are some Widow’s Mite graphics that I posted not long ago. The traditionally accepted Widow’s Mite is the Alexander Jannaeus lepton and prutah although many of the Judaean coins in circulation during the time are possible candidates. I think the Jannaeus coin is the favorite among Christian relic hunters because the images featured most closely resemble the star and the anchor which are both Christian symbols.
Just for clarity, I believe it is well accepted that the lepton is the "mite" from the bible. In fact, ancient bibles refer to a lepta in the story. A mite was a tiny dutch coin, the smallest in circulation at the time of King James. A prutah was valued at 2 lepta. So while both were current coins at the time, someone wanting a true widow's mite should get a lepton (or two). Luckily, they are very inexpensive coins. They would be near junk if it weren't for the story.
Alexander Jannaeus AE Lepta/Prutah obverse Star of eight pellets within diadem, המלך יהונתן(King Alexander) reverse ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ around anchor. 0.94g ex-Holyland coins Alexander Jannaeus AE Lepta/Prutah obverse Star of eight pellets within diadem, המלך יהונתן(King Alexander) reverse ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ around anchor. 1.62g ex-Holyland coins
