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History
The widow's mites in the Bible stories refer to coins issued by the Jewish king Alexander Janneus, who ruled from 103 to 76 B.C. During that time, he commissioned the minting of two coins, the lepton and the prutah. In common use at the time, these are the coins that are believed to have been added by the widow to the treasury as Jesus looked on. He is said to have commented on her contribution, saying that wealthier people had contributed much but she had given more they they because she had little and had given all she had. In the King James version of the Bible, the coins were referred to as "mites," meaning of little value. Thus, today they are known as widow's mites.
Types
The lepton and the prutah were both cast from bronze and the lepton was the lowest denomination available. At the time, the worth of coins was based on weight rather than an assigned value. Because of the way the coins were cast, their weight varied widely from coin to coin, though one lepton was roughly half of one prutah. The coins were very small, sometimes only as big around as a pencil eraser.
Identification
Both the prutah and the lepton are marked on one side with an eight-rayed star surrounded by a circle or a wheel. The star side of the prutah was inscribed with "Yehonatan the King." Both coins were marked on the other side with an anchor and "King Alexander," written in Greek. The star or wheel is thought to symbolize heaven, while the anchor may have been used to signify naval strength.
How They Were Made
Widow's mites were crudely made, at best. A long strip of bronze was placed between two dies, which did the embossing work. The strip was quickly pulled through the dies while being struck with a hammer. No attention was paid to placement or centering of the dies and the coins were cut from the strip as soon as it was hammered. This led to many irregularities, including the fact that the embossed pattern was nearly always out of place, on one if not both sides. In addition, the coins were rarely round and were more likely to be misshapen circles or even rectangular.
Biblical Mentions
Mites are mentioned at least three times in the Bible: Mark 12:41-44, Luke 12:58-59 and Luke 21:1-4. Both Mark 12 and Luke 12 specifically mention a widow contributing two mites to the official treasury, while Luke 21 simply uses the term "mite" to denote payment.