Most of them seem to be modern replicas of biblically-relevant coins.
From left to right:
1. Caponius - a
Roman procurator of Judea around ~8 AD. Text near it calls it a Widow's Mite, which is referred to in one of Jesus's parables.
2.
Pontius Pilate -
Roman governor of Judea from 26-36 AD who supposedly tried to avoid putting Jesus to death.
3.
Herod Antipas - Tetrarch of Galilee; involved in the death of John the Baptist.
4.
Tiberius - 2nd
Roman Emperor.
Roman Denarii under
Tiberius are candidates for being the
Tribute Penny referred to by Jesus when he said to "Render unto
Caesar that which is Caesar's".
5.
Herod the Great - Famous Herod -
Roman client
king of Judea. Built the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem. Supposedly interacted with the wisemen and tried to kill all the kids in Judea in an attempt to kill a young Jesus.
6. The
shekel this coin represents is supposedly one of the
types of pieces of silver given to Judas to betray Jesus.
7.
Sestertius of Emperor
Vespasian.
Vespasian and
his son
Titus led campaigns to crush a
Jewish rebellion in the first century AD. This coin commemorates their eventual
victory - Iudea Capta is translated to Judea Conquered. Fun fact: The 2nd temple built by Herod was destroyed during this campaign.
So, what we have here is a batch of commemorative (
fake) coins modeled after coins relevant to
Biblical texts. It's probably not a coincidence that there are 7 of them either. It seems like a souvenir that might be sold in Jerusalem or elsewhere with the intention of attracting religious buyers. It may or may not have been passed off as genuine.
Fake Coins and Notorious Fake Sellers
