The Lowly Lepton In Rather Low Grade

[thenickelguy]

Alexander Jannaeus, c. 103-70 BC. He's an interesting and detestable individual, and a terrible Jew. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Jannaeus

Anepigraphic widow's mite with the star and anchor. It's a bit rough, but you can see it clearly enough in hand.
( anepigraphic meaning
"without a legend or inscription" (on artifacts, coins, etc )

Mark 12:41 - 12:44

12:41  And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.
12:42  And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
12:43  And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
12:44  For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.

 

[CPK]

Nice little coin!

I want to get one sometime, but somehow there's always something else to get instead.

[thenickelguy]

Thanks for the "Like" Finn.

I didn't forget that you gave this to me.

[Finn235]

Glad to see they are still being enjoyed!

[Alegandron]

I always chuckle when I hear the words LEPTON and PRUTAH. I always have images of some sort of aliens:



MY ALIEN COINS:

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

 
Maccabean 135-37 BC AE Lepton Widows Mite

[thenickelguy]

Now I have to wonder, did I show a LEPTON or a PRUTAH?

15 hours ago, Alegandron said:

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

Is the wheel and anchor found on both?

Edited June 8, 2022 by thenickelguy

[Alegandron]

51 minutes ago, thenickelguy said:

Now I have to wonder, did I show a LEPTON or a PRUTAH?

Is the wheel and anchor found on both?

I understand that a Lepton is half a Prutah.  However, they were all so poorly struck and controlled that many do not have a weight or size difference to truly distinguish them. 

So, I fall back on that they are actually NAMES of ALIENS...  😄 

[Steve]

Ahaha ... Lepton & Prutah (nice coins, fellas)

I had a couple of those examples ...

=> bring-on the fricken Aliens!!

 

Alexander Jannaeus AE Prutah (ummm, or maybe a Lepton?) - Widow’s Mite (below)

Date: 103-76 BC

Diameter: 13.0 mm

Weight: 1.1 gr

Obverse: Anchor

Reverse: Star of eight rays

Ex-stevex6

 

Ummm, I had this jotted-down in my coin-notes  ...

"The prutah was an ancient copper Jewish coin worth about one thousandth of a pound. A loaf of bread at that time was worth about 10 prutot (plural of prutah). One prutah was also worth two lepta (singular lepton), which was the smallest denomination minted by the Hasmonean and Herodian Dynasty kings"

... also ... 

"Prutot were also minted by the Roman Procurators of the Province of Judea, and later were minted by the Jews during the First Jewish Revolt (sometimes called Masada coins"

... but there are never any guarantees that what I say is even remotely correct (hi)

 

 

Herod Agrippa I AE Prutah (below)

Date: 41-42 AD

Diameter: 17.2 mm

Weight: 2.5 grams (twice as big as the one shown above)

Obverse: Canopy, legend around

Reverse: Three ears of grain

Ex-stevex6

Edited June 8, 2022 by Steve

[Alegandron]

Judaea Claudius w-Britannicus CE 41-54 Æ Prutah 17mm 2.8g Antonius Felix-procurator Dated RY 14 54 CE 2-crossed shields spears - Palm tree BPIT K AI L IΔ date Hendin 1348

[thenickelguy]

Hey I got one of those! I think my widows mite is a lepton since this is a prutah (which I did not know until now) and about twice the size.

 

JUDAEA, Procurators. Antonius Felix. 52-59 AD in the names of Nero and Britannicus Caesars.

Procurator was a title of certain officials in ancient Rome who were in charge of the financial affairs of a province, or imperial governor of a minor province.

Jerusalem mint.
Dated RY 14 of Claudius (54 CE).

Obv. Two crossed shield and two spears

Rev, Palm tree; L [IΔ] (date) across field.
Meshorer 341; Hendin 1348; RPC I 4971.

[airhead1983]

Hands down, my favourite coin!

Erin

[dougsmit]

On 6/6/2022 at 9:34 PM, thenickelguy said:

Anepigraphic widow's mite with the star and anchor. It's a bit rough, but you can see it clearly enough in hand.
( anepigraphic meaning
"without a legend or inscription" (on artifacts, coins, etc )

 

 

I have to object to using the term anepigraphic for a coin that had legends as part of the design but that lost those legends to corrosion.  Many/most of these have lost the Hebrew letters on the star side.  Losing the Greek legend on the anchor side takes longer.  When looking for one of these we consider several features which separate the usual mites from better ones.  Some people call the star a wheel so I prefer coins that show ties on the wreath that surrounds the star.  These were made by the billions and millions survive in every degree of condition.  I made up the numbers in the preceding line but I don't think they exaggerate much.  Has any expert published a guesstimate for mintage/survival? 

 

[thenickelguy]

Objection sustained. Thank you for the very informative post dougsmit. 

This little coin was a freebie in a purchase and the info was given to me as well. I always wanted one of these, even before my first ancient coin hooked me.