The G&N Pecunem also produced a couple small Greek silvers for me. The sale had a lot of nice little coins but I considered the start prices plus fees and postage too high to buy others. These two struck me for some reason. The big one (8x10mm, .34g) is a hemiobol of Tarsos during the time of Pharnabazos and Datames. I have the stater of the type on my favorites page so this little guy might have to be added to that page as a supporting player. The female head is slightly left of facing and surrounded by a very small circle of dots suggesting this coin was struck from special hemiobol or 1/24th stater dies rather than being just an underweight example of the more common obol (1/12 stater). The reverse is dished quite a bit and has a right facing bust of Aphrodite. I have not been able to find an example of a hemiobol of these types. Smaller yet is a 7mm 0.20g tetartemorion(?) from an uncertain location in Cilicia. The obverse shows Herakles with club behind his head and the lion skin tied around his neck if you look closely enough. The reverse is a facing lion with arrow in its mouth. This is not a particularly rare coin and not even that great an example but I found it cute enough for a minimum bid. Most, I assume, avoided it believing it to be chipped. It is hard to tell on these little things. These little guys need careful attention if you are to see details or even get them right side up. Compare: http://www.cngcoins.com/Search.aspx...1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_4=1&VIEW_TYPE=0 I noted that neither of the ones in CNG's research area made their estimates and mine went cheap at Pecunem. I'd think that the lion munching on an arrow would get some respect but I guess all who want the type must have one.
I absolutely love your two new lil' Greeks (they're awesome) I have two examples that you might find kinda interesting? The 1st is a lil' 10mm example from Cilicia, around the same time as your example: CILICIA, Uncertain, AR Obol 4th century BC Diameter: 10 mm Weight: 0.60 grams Obverse: Youthful male head (Triptolemos?) left, wearing grain wreath Reverse: Eagle left on lion's back, all within dotted square border The 2nd example is from Thessaly, which also shows Herakles and a lion with a spear in its mouth: THESSALY, Oitaioi. AR Hemidrachm Circa 360-344 BC Diameter: 16 mm Weight: 2.83 grams Obverse: Head of lion left, spear in jaws Reverse: Herakles standing facing, holding club => apparently Herakles and a Lion with a spear in its mouth was the "in thing" during the 4th century BC?
Nice tiny coins. You certainly picked a couple nice ones. There was one tetartemorion of Ionia that I was watching in that auction. It weighed 0.27 grams and it has a facing head of Apollo (and he still had his complete nose). Someone else was the successful bidder but here is the seller's photo:
Steve: I love that eagle/lion. Collect89: There are a lot of minor variations on that facing Apollo type. Many have the denomination on the reverse. Here is TE for tetartemorion.
I love the portraits on the first one. Beautiful coin. Amazing the details on such teeny coins. I dont have any that small to share.
Doug and everyone, great little coins! I just picked up my very first ultra tiny yesterday Here are the pics along with my 13mm Cherronesos
Wow TJC => fantastic lil' wee coin!! Man, ya gotta love the animal coins (that is definitely on my want-list ... congrats!!) Hey, TJC => ummm, what is the diameter of your new baby? (thanks)
Steve your Thessaly Lion Holding the Arrow is amazing! My little lion is 6.25 mm's. Nathan, not sure about the cabinet toning but I do know that this is one my favorite coins! I think toning rocks! Here are couple more pics. The reverse is an incuse square with a dot and a bunch of grapes.
great new coins DS...i thought the facing coin would be apollo on a bad hair day. the facing animal reverse is awesome! here's my mini-greek...but not so tiny compared to some of you alls coins. (11 mm at widest)
