Other people know this
area better than me and might
weight in to correct me. Also there are several goods books on this
area of coinage - my favorite being David Hendin's Guide to
Biblical Coinage, 5th edition.
But I will take at a
crack at answering.
Your question was phrased very well as they key is what coinage was in circulation. In the ancient world coins circulated for a long time so a lot of coins in circulation during Jesus' lifetime were struck long before
his birth.
Most coins in circulation were small bronze coins - generally known as prutot.
Jesus was born around the time of the death of Herod I (the Great).
His coins would obviously have been in circulation.
However, coins of the earlier
members of the
Hasmonean dynasty, including
John Hyrcanus I and
Alexander Jannaeus, would have ranged from roughly 40 to a
bit over a hundred years old. These coins, struck in huge numbers, would
still have been common-place.
Some worn examples of older bronze
Ptolemaic (small ones) and
Seleucid coinage were also likely occasionally encountered in the market.
Common coins were struck by the
Herodian king Herod Archelaus during Jesus' lifetime.
However, much of Jesus' lifetime occurred during the so-called
Roman Governors' period when small bronze coins were struck bearing the names of
Roman Emperors, like
Tiberius, by governors like
Coponius,
Marcus Ambibulus, and
Valerius Gratus.
At Jesus' death the most recent coins would of course have been those struck by the Governor
Pontius Pilate.
SC