Green’s Dictionary of Slang

something valuable or desirable; usu. as worth a Jew’s eye.

1596		Shakespeare Merchant of Venice II v: There will come a Christian by, Will be worth a Jewess’ eye.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Jew’s eye, that’s worth a Jew’s eye; a pleasant or agreeable sight: a saying taken from Shakespeare.
1786		Northampton Mercury 1 Apr. 4/1: It is very common for People, in speaking of any Thing valuable, to say ’tis worth a Jew’s Eye.
1812		Mr Lawson ‘Chaunt’ in Egan Boxiana I 478: So neatly fibs the Israelite / To ev’ry stander by, sirs, / Who must allow it is a sight, / Worth well a Jew’s eye, sirs.
1822		R. Nares Gloss. (1888) I 449: jew’s eye This phrase does not require explanation, but it’s origin may be worth remarking. The extortions to which the Jews were subject in the thirteeth century, and the periods both before and after, exposed them to the most tyrannical and cruel mutilations, if they refused to pay the sums demanded of them. ‘King John,’ says Hume, ‘once demanded 10,000 marks from a Jew of Bristol, and on his refusal, ordered one of his teeth should be drawn every day, till he should consent. The Jew lost seven teeth, and then paid the sum required of him.’ [...] The threat of losing an eye would have a still more powerful effect. Hence the high value of a Jew’s eye.
1823		Oxford Jrnl 1 Feb. 4/3: Swear! Lord, love you, I’d swear it was worth a Jew’s eye.
1834		Marryat Peter Simple (1911) 11: Although the journey [...] would cost twice the value of gold seal, yet that in the end it might be worth a Jew’s eye.
1842		W.H. Maxwell Rambling Recollections of a Soldier of Fortune 115: I would have given ‘a Jew’s eye’ to have known the old man’s history.
1845		Bell’s Life in Sydney 20 Dec. 1/4: We would have given a Jew’s eye to have a peep at that same book.
1846		Anti-Slavery Bugle (New-Lisobon, OH) 5 June 1/3: It is ‘worth a Jew’s eye’ to see the perseverance exhibited by young Southerners in insulting him.
1849		Bell’s Life in Sydney 3 Feb. 3/2: Murphy too, is the [...] delight, admiration, and the very jews eye of the sharp and pressing creditors.
1850		Fast Man 8:1 n.p.: She was girl for him. A smile from her seemed indeed worth a ‘Jew's eye’.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 46: jew’s eye A pleasant, agreeable sight.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict. 203: Jew’s eye a popular simile for anything valuable. Probably a corruption of the Italian, gioje; French, joaille, a jewel.
1881		Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890).
1884		Liverpool Echo 27 Oct. 1/1: [advert] ‘Worth a Jew’s Eye [...] the Grand Remedy for all Liver and Kindred Complaints.
1889		Carlisle Patriot 22 Nov. 8/4: [advert] Powell’s Balsam of Aniseed [...] It is ‘worth a Jew’s Eye’ for a Cough.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 40: Jew’s Eye, a very valuable article.
1897		‘F. Anstey’ Baboo Jabberjee BA 54: He [...] would leave no stone unturned to procure me a greater adequacy of remuneration for writings that were dirt cheap at a Jew’s eye.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 16 Jun. 13/4: [J]udging by his ‘41 years in India,’ Roberts would be worth a Jew’s eye to a newspaper as war-scribe.
1905		S.F. Call 30 Sept. 8/3: There is no certainty about the origin of the expression, ‘worth a Jew’s eye’.
2019		P. Baker Fabulosa 293/2: Jew’s eye something valuable.