30 pieces of silver

One Bible commentary says that 30 pieces of silver was the equivalent of 120 denarii. A denarius was the wage a worker was paid for a day's work (Matthew 20:2). So Judas was given the equivalent of three months pay. In Zechariah 11:12-13 thirty pieces of silver is referred to as a paltry amount of money compared to anything of real value (the words in v13 "handsome price" are denigrating the worth of the 30 pieces of silver).

---

someone said this:

[i]Note that 30 shekels would have been 5-6 months wages for a labourer or the penalty price for killing a neighbours slave.

So going with the labour value it would be somewhere about $15,000 or $20,000 assuming an income between 30K an 40K a year.[/i]

--

Either way it seems it was quite a good amount not just a few hundred dollars.