As the first item for sale in the latest AMCC (shameless plug) reminds us; the ancients could do a LOT on 12 mm of metal! Seeing that beauty made me think of some of my favorite "miniature masterpieces"... or at least some of my favorite little diddies. Punk rock kitty is a stone cold showstopper at a miniscule 7mm: Hekatomnos Satraps of Karia, AR Hemiobol. Circa 395-377 BC. Forepart of lion right, head reverted left / Forepart of facing lion; trident head below. SNG Keckman 837-840; SNG von Aulock 1819 (Miletos). 0.42g, 7mm, 3h. Very Fine. Well centered and toned. Ex: Savoca blue 2020 Silenos and one of the most wild winged thunderbolts in my collection is smaller than the nail on my pinky toe!: Sicily, Katane AR Litra. Circa 415/3-404 BC. Head of Silenos to left, wearing ivy wreath / ΚΑΤΑΝΑΙΩΝ Winged thunderbolt between two shields. Boehringer, Kataneische LI 6-7. Rizzo pl. XIV, 18 var. SNG ANS 1266. 0.71g, 10mm, 6h My main man Bes! CILICIA, Mint Uncertain 400-350 BC. Obol (Silver, 10 mm, 0.58 g, 1 h). Female head facing, turned slightly to left, wearing earrings, necklace and flowing hair (Arethusa?). Rev. Facing head of Bes. Göktürk 44. SNG Levante 233. SNG France 486. Fine metal and attractive on both sides. Very fine. Ex: Leu auction 4 Ex: Nomos Obolos 14 One of my first little beauties: THRACE, Chersonesos. Circa 386-338 BC. AR Hemidrachm (11mm, 2.26 g). Forepart of lion right, head reverted / Quadripartite incuse square with alternating raised and sunken quarters; pellet over AΓ monogram and cicada in opposite sunken quarters. McClean 4096 (described as fly); SNG Copenhagen –; SNG Berry 503. Good VF, minor porosity. And lastly, my not so masterful version (but still a millimeter smaller and pretty stunning) of AMCC3's coin #1: BRUTTIUM, Rhegion Circa 415/0-387 BCE. Æ 11mm (1.76 gm). Lion's head facing / PHΓIN[...], laureate head of Apollo right. Cf. SNG ANS 702; HN Italy 2524. Good VF, dark green patina. If you have small stunners to share I'd love to see them all!
Amazing examples!!! Well I have a few tiny coins .. but this one is my favorite. Kyzikos, Mysia. Hemiobol. Silver, 0.71 grams, 10.49 mm. After 480 BC. Obverse: Forepart of running boar left, retrograde E on shoulder, tunny fish swimming upwards behind. Reverse: Head of roaring lion left, within shallow incuse square.
Not really ancient, but this fanam from Mysore kingdom tried to capture Narashima, the lion headed incarnation of Vishnu on a 5mm flan, 0.35g. circa 1600s.
I love small coins. When I joined CT I knew some things about Roman coins (SOME or to be precise, some) Started reading here more seriously about Greek coins and decided to learn about them. Then I got myself some tiny treasures. Attica. Athens circa 454-404 BC. Hemiobol AR 6 mm., 0,27 g. Obv. Helmeted head of Athena right. Rev. AΘΕ ; Owl right head facing, wings folded, olive-leaf and berry behind, all within an incuse square. Sear SG 2531 Mysia. Kyzikos circa 480-400 BC. Hemiobol AR 9 mm., 0,40 g. Forepart of boar left, retrograde K on shoulder, to right, tunny upward / Head of lion left, to upper left, head of panther facing, all within incuse square.Rosen 522 Von Fritze II 13; SNG Ashmolean 540; SNG France 386. Ionia. Miletos circa 525-475 BC. Tetartemorion AR Cf. Rosen 407/8. Klein 430; SNG Tubingen 3001; Rosen 407 Head of a roaring lion l. R/ Quail standing l. within incuse square 5 mm., 0,08 g. Hemiobol AR 7 mm., 0,46 g. Caria, Kasolaba(?), c. 420-400 BC. AR Hemiobol. Ram’s head right / Youthful male head right within incuse. Konuk, Kasolaba 5; Klein 496-8 (Uncertain) Obol AR 7 mm., 0,52 g. Islands off Troas, Tenedos AR Obol. Circa 5th Century BC. Janiform head of female, facing left, and bearded male (Philonome and Tenes), facing right / Labrys (double axe) within shallow incuse; T-E across fields. SNG München 340; SNG Copenhagen 509; HGC 6, 387; SNG von Aulock 7666. Just some under 10 mm. The Miletos Tetartemorion, especially, was shocking. 5 mm and under 0.1 grams. AND such details. And there are even better examples of it!
As my main collecting area is now Greek, I have a number of small coins, both silver and bronze. Here are a few: Ionia, Phokaia. Diobol, circa 500-480 BC, 9mm. Ionia, Teos. Diobol, circa 320-294 BC, 9mm. Mysia, Parion. Circa 200-100 BC, 10mm. . Mysia, Adramytteion. Circa 300-100 BC, 9mm.
I recently won a lot of Greek silver fractions from Roma. I'm just now getting around to IDing them. Here's a quick shot of them that I made when they first arrived:
Noooooooooo, not another nice @Ryro thread with lovely coins!!! I'm running out of things to show... Then again: great coins. I'll join! Not a bad reverse portrait on this one, I thought, considering it's less than 5mm tall (and please feel free to skip the obverse; it's an anticlimax). I just love those satrapal coins and portraits (well, it's a dynast, really). Wish I had more, wish they were cheaper as well. An Achaemenid Phoenician fraction. Ever seen a lion do a Muhammed Ali impression, boxing gloves and all? And lastly: happy summer to all on CT!
I asked myself the same question when I started reading about the Greek denominations. And I know there are many similar "problems" here on CT as for some denominations it is impossible to say precisely what it was. I prefer to keep it in my catalogue with the attribution provided by the auction house, in this case.
Ed Snible asked if I had a theory about why ancient people made tiny bronze coins. I am sure there are people on this forum who would know a lot more than me but my reasoning has always been: 1. Originally coins were issued in precious metal; electrum, gold or silver. They were supposed to be worth their weight in metal. A large coin would be of considerable value but as people needed small values to make small purchases, small coins such as obols were made, frequently 10mm or less. Then later on cities introduced token bronze currency but in many cases they were made by the same mints that were producing the precious metal coinage. If the population was accustomed to very small coins and the mints were set up to produce very small coins why not make them in bronze as well if that was advantageous to the issuing authorities in terms of saving copper, ease of manufacture, or whatever? And when one city saw that another city was issuing such coins without problem, they would do likewise. 2. Many cities issued coins of an identical type in different sizes. Take the city of Neonteichos in Aeolis as an example. It only ever issued bronze coins with a helmeted Athena on the obverse and an owl on the reverse sitting on the city monogram but it issued them in two sizes, roughly 10mm and 17mm. Presumably the different sizes had different purchasing power, so that issuing the smaller coin was a bit like issuing a halfpenny with the larger coin being the penny.
Back before the boom in coin prices, I used to pick up large lots of Greek AR fractions, and would usually keep the best ones for my collection. Some favorites of mine: Kyme, Aiolis AR Diobol/Trihemiobol, Unique Archaic style Lampsakos diobol Kyzikos diobol Phokaia AR Tetartemorion Chersonesos AR Hemidrachm Lampsakos diobol in Classical style Pisidia Selge AR obol Thessaly Larissa AR hemidrachm Troas, Abydos AR tetartemorion Either Miletos or Caria, tetartemorion
Iona Kolophon AR Tetartemorion 530-520 BCE Archaic Apollo Incuse Punch 0.15g 4.5mm- SNG Kayhan 343 ARKADIA Tegea AR Tetartemorion 0.2g 6mm 423-400 BCE Helmeted Hd Athena Alea T within incuse BCD Peloponnesos War 1721 HGC 5 IONIA Teos AR tetartemorion 0.2g 6mm Hd griffin R mouth open - Quadripartite incuse SNG Turkey 602 Ionia Miletos AR Tetartemorion 5.6mm 0.21g Roaring Lion Hd - Bird Klein 430 SNG Kay 941 Aeolis Elaia AR Tetartemorion 460 BCE Athena L - Olive Wreath 7.8mm 0.16g SNG Cop 166
Impressive small coins all! Usually I fall for larger ones, but I do have a few small just because they caught my eyes. This is my smallest one, an example of the very earliest form of coinage; a type-less electrum globule, weighed to a specific standard, with a simple square punch mark on one side (two or three punch marks on larger denominations): EL 1/12 stater, uncertain Ionian mint, ca. 650 - 600 B 1.168 g, 7.7 mm SNG Kayhan 676; SNG Von Aulock 7763; Rosen 324; Boston MFA 1750; Ob.: smooth plain globular surface Rev.: incuse roughly square pyramidal punch;
Perfect timing on another great topic! As I read this, I realized I had just recently added two of the smallest coins in my collection. Spain, Uncertain mint AR hemitartemorion or 1/36 shekel late 3rd Century BC 0.08 gm, 6 x 5 mm O: laureate head Apollo right R: star of 6 pellets in crescent ACIP 531 Kyrenaika, Kyrene AR hemiobol 480-475 BC 0.35 gm, 5 mm O: silphium fruit R: star/floral rosette (silphium viewed from above?) in incuse square BMC 33 (IV:31) I agree the amount of detail on these tiny coins is very impressive as I need a magnifying glass just to see them well.
Wonderful! What do I love these tiny coins, often with masterpieces and nice designs. Just strange to realize they used these tiny pieces as currency. My favorite is obviously my profile picture! It was worth more back in the days then anyone could think of such a tiny fraction. Islands off Caria, Kos. EL Forty-eighth Stater, Phokaic standard. Circa 625-600 B.C. Obverse: Crab. Reverse: Incuse square. Reference: Stefanaki Series I, unlisted denomination; HN Online –; cf. HGC 6, 1295 (1/96th stater). 0.34g Some other pieces: Thrace, Thasos. AR Obol, circa 435-411 B.C. Obverse: Two dolphins above one another, swimming in opposite directions; pellet above and below. Reverse: Quadripartite incuse square. Reference: HGC 337. Le Rider, Thasiennes 9. 0.52g; 9mm Bruttium, Rhegion. AR Litra. Circa 415/0-387 B.C. Obverse: Lion's mask facing. Reverse: PH within olive sprig. Reference: Herzfelder pl. XI, J. HN Italy 2499. 0.73g; 10mm Islands off Mysia, Lesbos, Methymna. AR Tetartemorion. Circa 500/480-460 B.C. Obverse: Facing head of Silenos. Reverse: Quadripartite incuse square. Reference: Hauck & Aufhäuser 14 (1998), 75. Leu Web Auction 11 (2020), 859. 0.31g; 6mm Ionia, Ephesos. AR Hemitetartemorion (?), circa 500-420 BC. Obverse: Bee. Reverse: Head of an eagle to right within incuse square. Reference: Karwiese Series IV, Type 1. SNG Kayhan 130. 0.12g; 8mm Kyzikos, Mysia. AR Obol. Ca. 450 - 400 B.C Obverse: Forepart of boar left, retrograde E on body, tunny fish swimming upwards behind. Reverse: Head of roaring lion left, within shallow incuse square. Reference: SNG Von Aulock 7333 0,93g; 14mm I have this tiny bronze coin from Tenedos, an island, quite scarce. It weights only 0.6g! I know some other other cities from Asia Minor for example that struck bronze coins under 1g as well. Apparently there was a demand for these coins, perhaps on the market they were useful for a daily grocery. Another interesting note about the coin, it was struck very early, way before many other cities switched to bronze coinage, and that for an obscure island... Islands off Troas, Tenedos. AE Chalkous. late 5th-early 4th century B.C. Obverse: Head of Artemis to right, wearing stephanos. Reverse: T E Labrys. Reference: SNG Aulock 1589. SNG Cop. 522. SNG München 348. 0.64g
not tiny, but a masterpiece to be exhibited in Trier https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland ... g-100.html Would love to have one of these
Great little coins shown!....Amazing the detail that can be portrayed onto such a tiny flan. Excuse my laziness here but I've had this coin for a couple of years now and never looked into it in any depth....5.2mm x 0.37gr Mysore Fanam. Maybe similar type to @JayAg47's post?.....A nudge in the right direction would be appreciated.