Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
PEN'NY. This word, so translated in our English Version for the Greek denarius, is equivalent to about sixteen cents or eight pence, and was a regular day's wages. The "penny" shown to Christ bore the likeness and name of Caesar (Tiberius), who had then been emperor for seventeen or eighteen years. Matt 22:19, 2 Chr 11:21, Denarius ought to have been retained or Anglicized into denar, with a marginal note giving its precise value. See Money.