what would 30 pieces of silver be worth today
Thirty pieces of silver The word used in Matthew 26:15 (ἀργύρια, argyria) simply means "silver coins,"[9] and scholars disagree on the type of coins that would have been used. Donald Wiseman suggests two possibilities. They could have been tetradrachms of Tyre, usually referred to as Tyrian shekels (14 grams of 94% silver), or staters from Antioch (15 grams of 75% silver), which bore the head of Augustus.[10] Alternatively, they could have been Ptolemaic tetradrachms (13.5 ± 1 g of 25% silver).[11] There are 31.1035 grams per troy ounce. At spot valuation of $17.06/oz (the closing price on Monday, December 12, 2016), 30 "pieces of silver" would be worth between $185 and $216 in present-day value (USD).
Sovereign (British coin) Named after the English gold sovereign, last minted in 1604, the name was revived with the Great Recoinage of 1816.[2] Minting these new sovereigns began in 1817. By the coin act of 1816, 12 Troy ounces of 22-carat gold were worth 44.5 Guineas (a Guinea being £1.05). This meant that the 1-pound sovereign should weigh 160/623 ounces (~0.257 oz or 7.98 g), whereas its content of pure gold was 22/24 of this (~0.23542 oz or ca. 7.322381 g). This weight has remained almost constant — rounding at 10−6 g took place on its legal redefinition in the decimalised rather than fractional system of coin weights.[3]