NEWP: Ionia, Kolophon, 1/48 Stater

This coin will now take the honor of being my smallest fractional Greek silver (5mm, 0.14g), and my oldest (530/25-500 BC). My first tentative step into the 6th-century BC - like I wasn't spending enough money on coins!



This is an exceptional example of the type, with a strong bust and sharp incuse punch. Compare to a recent CNG sale at a similar price (343, Lot 169). I think my coin is much nicer. It has the typical light porosity of very old, tiny silver, but the archaic bust of Apollo is quite well-defined, if a bit off-center, and the punch pattern is crisp.

Let's see your smallest Greek silver!

 

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Wow, that's miniscule! A small child breathing on it could blow it away... but you're right, the details are very strong. Very cool little fractional.

My smallest is a almost monster in comparison.


MYSIA, Kyzikos (?)
Circa 525 - 475 BC
AR Hemiobol
0.26g, 6.8mm
Apparently unpublished, known from a h̶a̶n̶d̶f̶u̶l̶ thimbleful of examples.
cf. CNG 213 Lot 151
O: Head of Attis right, wearing Phrygian cap.
R: Quadripartite incuse square.

 

That's a fantastic little coin!

I have a Greek silver in the ~5mm range:


MACEDON, Pangeion region
Uncertain mint, 5th century BCE
AR trihemitetartemorion (trihemiobol), 5 mm, 0.26 gm
Obv: monkey squatting left
Rev: round shield or pellet within incuse square
Ref: "Uncertain Thraco-Macedonian Coins, Part II", Nomismatika Khronika (1998), 67
This enigmatic series showing a monkey squatting either right or left with a round shield on the reverse, is the only Greek coinage of the classical period to depict such an animal. Monkeys are known to have been kept as house pets in antiquity, but its significance in this context is unknown.

 

That is a lovely coin JA. Nicely struck and preserved.

I'm pretty sure this is my smallest at 7mm:

AEOLIS, KYME
AR Hemiobol
OBVERSE: Eagle's head left, KY to left (M beneath the head, nearly off flan)
REVERSE: Quadrapartite incuse square of mill-sail pattern
Struck at Aeolis, 450BC
.46g, 7mm
SNG Cop 32

 

what great sharp details for such a little coin! super coin JA, love it!

my smallest greek is my 11 mm boar/lion/tuna..but it seem to big for this thread!

 

I always love when you post the big/small shot! I really think you ask everyone to find the small in the fibers of your carpet... do you still have the photo?

The photo really emphasizes the importance of paying attention when handling trihemitetartemorions.

 

I am gonna say it again. Proof of optical magnification in the ancient world.

 

Thanks! Here's the carpet shot (immediately after receiving this coin and while showing it to a friend, I dropped it. Half an hour later it was found.)



(The coin is in the upper right quadrant. If you divide the picture into 9 portions by drawing two vertical and two horizontal lines, the coin is near the intersection of the uppermost and rightmost line).

...

I meant to edit the coin description, deleting the supposed denomination and simply leaving it as AR5.

 

It's hard to imagine how dies for such coins were cut without some sort of magnification. When it arrives, I'd like to take a pic similar to TIF's, but my largest coin is only a sestertius of Gordian III. However, I'm going to be afraid of removing the coin from its flip for fear of losing it.

 

I see it! Lol - it's like ancient coin collectors' version of Where's Waldo.

 

The smallest I now have is of a Trihemiobol of Thasos, Thrace---Satyr and vase, circa 400 BC and of 12.3 mm and .86 grams.

Unbelievably, even larger than a few posted....How did they do it?? LOL

 

Nice pint sized coins all.

 

Man that's small JA, super new coin, mine that i'll show is twice as big.

Ionia, Ephesus.
Bee
Two stags
10mm x 1g.

 

Decisions, decisions. Every time this subject comes up I have to show my smallest diameter coin but it weighs twice what my smallest by weight does. When we get in this weight class thickness and condition count a lot. Under 5mm diameter:

Phocaea, Ionia - Silver 1/8 obol? - Late Sixth Century BC - 5mm, .1g
Female head 'Smyrna type' left / 4 part incuse - Rosen 598

Almost a full mm wider but weighing only 0.05g is the thing and flaking hexas of Syracuse. I suspect it would weigh close to 0.1g were it not for the loss to being buried in soil as are most of these little guys. People rarely hoarded a pot of a thousand of these. The were lost singly and suffered as expected from field find coins.


"Also ran" is this huge 0.2g tetartemorion of Hekatomnos, Satrap of Caria, 395-377 B.C. It is about the same diameter as the Syracuse but weighs four times as much despite the fact it also shows surface peeling ruining what I believe would have been one of the most beautiful tiny coins ever.

Notice the lower half of the reverse 3/4 face of Apollo still has its 'skin' but most of the surface has laminated revealing the reticulated core. There are better and worse both in grade and style. Finding the one I want will be hard. This is not bad:
http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1822060

A few others of my Tiny Treasures are here:
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/tiny.html

 

I can't seem to keep up with the changing names of these fractionals. Tetartemoria? Fractions of obols? CNG and other dealers now call these forty-eighth staters. I suppose as long as we don't know what the natives called them, we'll continue making up names.

 

I love this photo, and how you stitched it together to look like there are actually two coins sitting on the penny. Well-done!

 

I have a few of these little gems, however I am reluctant to take them out of their 2 x 2's as I fear I will drop them and they will be gone forever.

I echo the opinion as to how the celators' created the dies without magnification. Whenever I am at a coin show I look for these little guys and luckily I have 5 of them in my collection.

Whenever I show my collection to friends and family I bring them out very carefully, and non coin collectors are astounded by them.

 

Heck, I've been collecting for over 30 years and I'm still astounded by them.

 

I've lost track, but I'm pretty sure that this wee lil' baby is still my smallest (and coolest)

IONIA, Ephesos, AR Tetartemorion
Circa 500-420 BC
Diameter: 5 x 8 mm
Weight: 0.17 grams
Obverse: Bee
Reverse: Head of eagle right within incuse square
Reference: Karwiese Series IV; SNG Kayhan 126–34

 

Steve, I think you have the tiniest one of all of us....Hmmm, is that good???