Tiny Greek coin (archaic) Just got this out of the mail box Thanks Doug Ionia, Miletos AR 6th century BC Lion head left / star and pellets 9mm .9g
IMHO collectors go to a lot of trouble forcing names on coins. Many of us learn the Athenian system and apply their names to others whether or not the people who issued the coins would approve. I have no idea of what the exchange rate would have been between one of these and an obol of an obol issuing town. If we call a stater (kind of generic coin name for a main unit) equivalent to a didrachm and divide a drachm into 6 obols, this coin would be an obol. These weigh more than an Athenian obol but standards varied from place to place and I am no expert on them. I'm not aware of staters dating to around this time but a century later they seemed to weigh about 12g which would make this OK as a twelth but that does not mean that the man on the street would have called either coin by that name. I do not know where numismatic scholars found the names they use in many cases. Those interested might enjoy the following page: http://rjohara.net/coins/history/ which says the coin should weight over 1.1g. This is not out of line considering the poor condition of this example. If you follow one of the links on that page you will find photos of coins as low as .89g in better stape than this one but most are closer to 1.1g. I remain amazed at how close the weights are in these little things. I might add that this coin was one of the larger ones in the group I bought with some under .2g that I'm still trying to ID. You need good eyes to collect these.
Thanks again Doug. I think I'll take off the 1/12 part then. I'm also pretty surprised at some of the detail on many of these, being as small as they are. Its hard to run out of things that amaze me with Ancients. I tried to get a good photo of this one, still working on it. Thanks for yours I'll share that other link you sent me with everyone. Ancient Greek Coins of Miletus http://rjohara.net/coins/lion-sun/
Forgot, I found a Tiny flip (pvc though) though it would be funny to get a bunch for a tine coin album. I have one other small greek, and a few mini replicas already.
Oh, yeah. A little rough as many of those seem to be, but yeah, it's immediately as one of the Ionian, Miletos lions. Got one of these (or, of this style) myself. Bought it in Washington DC when I was about 12, back when real brick-and-mortar coin stores still existed! (I guess i'm part of that problem, since I do the auction thing, but I used to love to sit in an ancient coin store as a kid and let the old guys--they were always old, retired or passed on now--show me their wares. Actually still have a lot of Greek coins from back then, either purchased or gifted from those places.) My Miletos lion, which looks like yours (not sure about direction of lion facing), if I recall, is a tri-hemiobol (1.5 obols I guess?). So many denominations! Cool. Cooler that the later Chersonesos lion coins in my opinion (not trying to start a fight :smile --I have one of those, too--both in my private, no-sell collection). Would post pics, but only have the Chersonese. Good coin!
Whoa! Under 0.2g! That alone makes them pretty interesting--that they would and could create their dies so small so early in the history of coinage--considerably smaller than the later Roman AE4s that people see as tiny...
Thanks heres another tiny one Ar 0.249g, 6.7mm Elea?, Aeolis, AR Hemiobol. Late 5th century BC. Head of Athena left, in crested helmet / E L A I, around olive wreath, all within incuse square.
I have been criticised for not including a scale on my images. Perhaps this shot of a Phokaea 1/8 obol (.1g) will be more clear to those who recognize Abe Lincoln.
Both of those last two are great - dougs for the tiny detail, [Edit: oops!! R-----s] Randy's for that swirly design. Everybody marvels at the larger silver - me included - but there's a lot to admire about the artistry of tiny issues. Good pics!
