When living in Santa Barbara, CA, I bought tiny Greek obol minted in Massalia from a local coin dealer for $10. I was impressed by the coin's engraving, tiny size, & modest price. In those days I stored all my inexpensive coins in brown paper 2 X 2 envelopes. When I returned to Rochester, NY in late 1974 I brought the coin with me, or so I thought. I kept all my coins in my parents 600 lb. safe while looking for an apartment. After finding a place to live & getting settled I did an inventory of my coins. Al the coins were there except the obol from Massalia . Did I forget the coin or toss out the envelope thinking it was empty ? I vowed never to buy such a small coin again , until I saw this Greek obol in a recent Heritage auction. Being in a slab it would be nearly impossible to lose it . I left a pre-bid on the coin for $35 & ended up winning it for $32 + a $29 buyers fee, & $7.95 for shipping. I was happy with the purchase for $68.95 . GAUL. Marssalia (present day Marseilles, France), Circa 100-50 BC. AR Obol: 9 mm, 3 h, weight approximately .6 gm. Obverse: Bare head of Apollo facing left. Reverse: M-A within two spokes of wheel. SNG Copenhagen 723-727. To get a better idea how small the coin is see the slab photo below. Photos courtesy of NGC & Heritage. Massalia obols are very plentiful so they must have been used frequently in daily commerce. It would take 24 obols to equal 1 Ptolemaic tetradrachm (14.3 gm). The average housemaid worked for 2 obols a day, a mud carrier worked for 3 obols a day, & a ceramic potter worked for 6 obols (1 drachm) a day. So what could you buy with an obol ? For 2 obols you could buy 1 piece of salted fish, 3 obols could buy 1 liter of olive oil (used for cooking & lamp fuel), & 12 obols (2 drachms) could buy an axe. Have any other CT members lost a tiny ancient coin ?
Cool coin Al And great score The consignor paid more to get that thing entombed then they got for the coin But I'm still in shock that you haven't bought a mini masterpiece since Young Frankenstein came out?!?!?! Here's my lost and found story: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/th...-mysterious-missing-coin.362762/#post-4604549 And the coin: Mysia. Kyzikos (?) Uncertain. Tetartemorion (Circa 5th century BC). Obv: Crescents in triangular arrangement; pellet in one and between two. Shield (???) Rev: Head of roaring lion left within incuse square. Condition: Good very fine. Weight: 0.09 g. Diameter: 6 mm. Ex: Savoca SNG Kayhan I -; SNG Keckman -; Klein -; asiaminorcoins.com Coin ID #13228. SNG Kayhan I -; SNG Keckman -; Klein -; Asia Minor Coins online -; cf. Gitbud & Naumann 34, lot 140 (for a similar obverse design); apparently unpublished. Extremely rare. Though uncertain, the lion is of very similar style to the lions featured on the fractional coinage from Kyzikos. And some more bight sized coins to hopefully entice you to buy some more:
Ryro, That's an impressive group of miniatures ! I enjoyed your article on "The Mysterious Missing Coin" too . As you know, I'm not a big fan of small coins, preferring silver & billon Tets instead, where an engraver can "strut his stuff". I bought the mini obol more or less as punishment for losing the first one & closing chapter on that incident .
They made that type for many years so they exist in a number of styles. My closest thing is this one from the 4th century. Mine was very close to the same price save the fact that Frank Robinson (April 2019) does not charge a buyers fee and I split the postage across several purchases from that sale so it was $36 al-in. Of course mine cane without plastic. AR obol 0.68g While we differ in many ways, I might mention that my daughter (only child) has indicated interest ONLY in that part of my collection that is small meaning obols and under. Just guessing, I'd say that is only about 200 coins. I have no idea what will happen to all those fat 1+g coins that make up most of my collection but it is good to know there is even this little interest in what has been so important to me.
That's a very attractive obol Doug, & obviously much older than my coin. The obol I lost many years ago was very close in quality to your coin. My obol was struck during the Roman occupation centuries later than your coin. During the Roman occupation there was a large Celtic population living in Massalia, & when I first saw the coin I thought it might be a Celtic imitation because of the crude die work. I have only one heir living who doesn't collect coins but has been appreciative of the coins I've given him, so he'll be getting a few coins when I pass-on. I have a few friends who do collect coins & they will inherit some coins too. The rest of my coins will be auctioned & the proceeds will go to a few of my favorite charities. The old traditional Chinese believed a full life was equal to 60 years, the animal cycle of 12 X the five elements, & I've lived long past that . So my collection will be going up for auction in the next few years.
