TIBERIUS SILVER DENARIUS – TRIBUTE PENNY TYPE – CHOICE VF NGC GRADED ROMAN IMPERIAL COIN OF THE 12 CAESARS (Inv. 20100)

$1,350.00

20100. ROMAN EMPIRE. TIBERIUS, AD 14–37.
Silver Denarius (“Tribute Penny”), 3.74 g, 18 mm. Issue of Lugdunum.
Obv. TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS, laureate head of Tiberius right. Rev. PONTIF MAXIM, female figure (Livia as Pax) enthroned right, holding scepter and olive branch.
RIC I rev, 30.
NGC graded CHOICE VF, Strike 4/5, Surface 4/5, dark gray old cabinet toning and with a particularly attractive portrait of the emperor.

This coin type is widely believed to be the “tribute penny” of the Bible, the very coin handed to Jesus when he was questioned by the Pharisees and Herodians about the legitimacy of paying taxes to Rome. Although their intention was to get him to speak against the Romans and thereby obtain an excuse for his arrest, Matthew 22:19–21 reports that Christ responded to his questioners by saying, “‘Show Me the coin used for the poll–tax.’ And they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, ‘Whose likeness and inscription is this?’ They said to Him, ‘Caesar’s.’ Then He said to them, ‘Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.’ And hearing this, they were amazed, and leaving Him, they went away.”