Redefining the Biblical Widow's Mite (NGC Ancients)

[guy]

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Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” (Luke 21:1-4)

In these memorable passages the coins are described only as small and copper, with no further details as to their identification. This is hardly surprising since the numismatic content of these quotations is purely incidental.

 

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The anchor/star prutah of Alexander Jannaeus has traditionally been considered to be the Biblical Widow’s Mite.

 

 

Here is a very nice review by NGC Ancients on the famous widow's mite from the Bible:

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David Hendin, an adjunct curator at the American Numismatic Society and author of Guide to Biblical Coins, is among the chief authorities on ancient Judaean coins. In a recent interview on this subject he noted: “The tradition of the Jannaeus anchor/star coinage being the ‘Widow’s Mite’ is strong, yet it is absolutely not based on evidence drawn from literature or archaeology. Its selection seems to have been mainly a commercial matter that likely can be traced back to pilgrims visiting Jerusalem in the mid-19th Century and finding these anchor/star coins in the market.”

He adds: “The truth is that any prutah or half-prutah coins of the Maccabees, Herod I and his son Archelaus, or the prefects of Judaea up to the death of Jesus could possibly qualify to have been the ‘Widow’s Mite’.”

 

https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/5455/widows-mite/

Edited March 1, 2023 by guy