Does anyone know what this is?

bsshog40

Not sure where I got it. It only weighs 1.27g. Looks like copper?

JBK

It looks modern to me, cast, probably brass. It almost looks like a rough imitation of a Widow's Mite.

jmlanzaf

@JBK said:
It looks modern to me, cast, probably brass. It almost looks like a rough imitation of a Widow's Mite.

This.

Hydrant

Gift shop coin....From Somewhere in Europe.... Cheap souvineer.

bsshog40

Appreciate y'all!!

ChrisH821

I believe that is a reproduction "Widow's Mite"

ChrisH821

Here ya go. Buy 'em by the 50!
https://www.churchsupplier.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/2253-windows-coin.html

Smudge

Give all you have.

johnny9434

It's neat looking on that note 🙂

bsshog40

@ChrisH821 said:
Here ya go. Buy 'em by the 50!
https://www.churchsupplier.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/2253-windows-coin.html

So you're telling me I can get at least .29c for this? Awesome!

mr1931S

@ChrisH821 said:
Here ya go. Buy 'em by the 50!
https://www.churchsupplier.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/2253-windows-coin.html

I think I'd rather be rewarded with a roll of searched wheaties than 50 of these things.

Sapyx

Yep, it's a replica - a rather crude replica - of the ancient Judaean coin commonly known as a "widow's mite". I say "crude", simply because it appears to have been copied from a pencil-rubbing or a line drawing of a widow's mite, rather than from an actual coin. And you can indeed buy them in bulk from religious supplies stores, for giving away to your congregation or Sunday School class.

The original coins say in Greek "Basileos Alexandrou", for king Alexander Jannaeus. On the obverse of your replica you can still make out the "BAZ" from the start of "Basileos", and I assume the garbled script on the other side is what's left of "EXAND" from "Alexandrou". The doohickey in the middle is a reasonably good representation, albeit rather flat and 2-dimensional, of the ancient ship's anchor depicted on the original coins. The eight-spoked wheel on the reverse has suffered from the translation, having been reduced to a school of tadpoles.

What's saddest to me about these replicas is that, for just a few dollars more each, you could buy your class some genuine Window's Mites. They're not all that expensive.

ricko

Modern reproduction of the 'widow's mite'.... Good as a curio.... Cheers, RickO

PerryHall

My sister used to get solicitations for donations from religious charities and they included this replica of the widow's mite along with the Bible story of the widow's mite.