Is this the Smallest Gold Coin In The World at less than 2 mm

Is this the Smallest Gold Coin In The World at less than 2 mm?
This is 1/4 of a (Gold) Fanam at (less than) 2 mm, and 0.04 gm.
It comes from India and is dated to the 11th to 13th centuries.
To give an idea of size, here it is next to a (38.5 mm) 1883 U.S. Silver Dollar.



If you have a smaller one, can we see it, please?

 

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wow! id probably mistake that for a gold nugget! Whats the cost of these?

 

I think it's a drilled-out tooth filling. Always ask for your old fillings back, they're worth at least $20. You just never find these in dentists' dumpsters...

 

Not as funny as you think, Doug.
Last week I had a tooth out and, (you guessed it), it was the only one with the gold crown, and YES I did ask for it back. (I shall however spare you from posting it here). It is, however, significantly bigger than this coin.

@ vdbpenny - that depends on how deep your pockets are, and if you can find one. A (whole) fanam is more common than a 1/4 fanam. Whole fanams (later coins - 19th century) can be had for as little as $19 (+p&h).

 

True, but a crown is not a filling. Maybe a crown's worth $100 at scrap, I don't know. It's like depreciation on a new car, a crown drops from $700 to $100 the instant they cement it into place. I've had 4 teeth pulled in the past 5 years; my teeth don't have enamel, they're coated with high fructose corn syrup...

 

Looks like a large grain of fused sand. Man is that coin small!

 

Somewhere Ancient Joe posted a bunch of tiny gold pieces...wish I could find it. Amazing how small these are.

 

I agree the fractions are almost always much rarer than the standard denominations. I have some 1/8th and 1/16th baht pieces from Siam that are probably 100 times rarer than the one baht pieces.

Btw, the ancient greeks made smaller pieces for size, but not weight. They look like little tiny pebbles. For weight I have never seen a smaller gold coin that yours.

 

The term fanam does not occur until the 18th-century. The names of the denominations in Vijayanagar were Gadyana, Varaha, Pagoda, Pratapa, Haga, and Bele. The Bele was the smallest, coming in at 0.75 grains. Here's mine...



It's hard to imagine these things as coins, yet they were standardized bits of metal struck with a design (as crude as it is), and they were used as legal tender in commerce, so we have no choice but to call them coins.

 

Those specks of metal sure look funny. I don't think I could ever desire one, sorry.

 

Desire is the wrong word. I got mine for $15 as a curiosity - it is the world's smallest gold coin - it was there and it was cheap, and I collect coins, so why not? But no, I never went looking for one.

 

From the Lilliputian Mint, this is one of the larger ones, about 5 mm in the long dimension (400 mg).



OK, it's not issued by any coining authority, but it's small, gold, and pretty cool.

 

How, just how did they fit such an elaborate design on it?

 

Ron Landis is an incredible engraver. That's how.

 

They had better engravers than the US Mint does today.

 

There are some very rare examples of electrum coinage from Lydia in Asia Minor that are smaller - ie 1/96th of a stater.

 

AJ's smallest electrum is a 1/192 stater, 0.07 gm.

 

AJ, your writeup on that tiny electrum piece gives the weight, but not the diameter. How about including its diameter?

 

You are correct, J.A. but the denomination terms are relatively unknown by most so the more 'generic' (and later) term Fanam seems to be used. A bit like King Charles III Cartwheel Penny of 1797 wasn't called 'Cartwheel' until the term was 'coined' (pardon the pun) a long time later.

 

Here's a much later fanam, still pretty damn small, but a giant next to the bele...

Mysore, Tipu Sultan, AD 1782-1799
AV Fanam, 7.74mm, 0.37g, Patan mint: 1789.
Obv.: HA (Initials of Hyder Ali, Tipu Sultan's father) within inner linear and outer dotted borders.
Rev.: 1218 (= AD 1789) / Zarb Patan (Patan mint), within inner linear and outer dotted borders.
Reference: KM 128.1
Notes: Tipu Sultan introduced his own Mauludi date system, replacing the Hijiri calendar.