My 2 smallest coins just arrived

While I love the little coins, the fact remains that they are harder to find in pristine condition than are tetradrachms. This is probably mostly because we don't find large pot hoards with thousands of obol fractions but many are field finds with lesser surfaces. Some of my favorite small ones are pretty ugly but will do until I find the exceptional ones.

Sybaris 0.25g


Tarentum 0.6g


Rhegion 0.1g


Messana 0.6g


Syracuse 0.3g


Phokaea 0.33g (this one is comparatively thick and heavy)


Kebren 0.2g


uncertain, Cilicia 0.2g


Hekatomnos, satrap in Caria 0.2g (great die work, lousy surfaces)


Halikarnassos 0.4g

 

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Lovely @dougsmit ! I particularly like the Sybaris and the Messana. Very cool pieces.

 

My favorite little one remains this coin with a disputed mint - Mylasa or Miletus


Ionia. Miletos circa 525-475 BC.
Tetartemorion AR Cf. Rosen 407/8. Klein 430; SNG Tubingen 3001;
Head of a roaring lion l. R/ Quail standing l. within incuse square
5 mm., 0,08 g.
Possible Caria Mylasa

At 0.5 g this cannot be called light when we speak about light ancient coins but I still consider it an artistic masterpiece



480-450 BC. 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.

I also like this one



Caria. Kasolaba circa 420-400 BC.
Hemiobol AR 7 mm., 0,46 g.
Ram’s head right / Youthful male head right within incuse. Konuk, Kasolaba 5; Klein 496-8 (Uncertain)

This is one of my favorites - I simply admire the portraits, looking very much like ancient statues



CILICIA, Nagidos(ca 400-380 BC) AR Obol
Head of Aphrodite facing slightly right; [N] to left
Rev: Wreathed head of young Dionysos facing slightly left; [N] to left.
Göktürk 2; SNG France –; SNG Levante 6.
0,56 g, 11 mm

 

Here's a tiny treasure I've not shown often enough .


MACEDON, Mende
circa 460-423 BCE
AR hemiobol; 7 mm, 0.39 gm, 6 h
Obv: forepart of donkey to right
Rev: Kantharos within incuse square
Ref: AMNG III, 18. SNG ANS 365

 

Love that Magnesia ad Maeandrum! I had one of the same type some time ago; one of the many I sort of wish I had kept instead of selling, even though it got a decent price. They are very attractive little pieces.

Some of my favorite tinies:

Lampsakos AR diobol, archaic style


Cilicia, unknown AR obol with Herakles + Zeus


Kelenderis AR obol mule or overstrike (should be horse paired with goat, not Athena)


Pisidia, Selge AR obol


Kyzikos AR hemiobol


Cilicia, uncertain AR obol, possibly depicting Artaxerxes III


Caria, Mylasia(?) AR Tetartemorion, grain of rice for scale!


Abydos(?) Tetartemorion (really need to try to re-shoot this one- it's lustrous!)


Cilicia, satrap TRKMW (Datames) AR obol


And my favorite - Kyme AR trihemiobol, the only one known!

 

This is a really nice group of fractions! Lots of good designs and types I've seen for sale in the past that I liked. I've always found the Kyme pieces cool, and that Cilicia piece is great too.

I've seen you post this photo before and I love it. Thats a cool way to show that piece, your "double eagle" if you will haha

 

I find it interesting that Greek cities usually issued coins of different denominations with the same design. Anyone can tell a tetradrachm from a drachm by size, but can you tell a Lydian fraction of 0.24 grams from one with the same design but twice its weight? Both are tiny!



Persian. Lydia. 5 mm! Tiny! 0.24 grams. Maybe 1/24 siglos.
King in kneeling/running pose right/Featureless incuse stamp.
Sear Greek 4683 is a siglos of this design. Klein "Time of Darius" 758, plate 25 for type but that one is 0.34 grams. Others in Klein have the same design but weights of 0.14, 0.44, 1.36, an 1.71 grams. His two siglos pieces are 5.14 and 5.24 grams.

 

Hi All,

One of my favorite small coins.



Ar Quarter Obol
Size: 6x7 mm
Weight: 0.17 g
Die Axis: 02:00
Obv: Ptolemy I head facing right, wearing diadem. Plain border.
Rev: Εagle on thunderbolt facing left, wings spread. In left field: four-letter legend YHDH in Aramaic script. Plain border.

References: Lorber CPE-254; Gitler & Lorber, Group 7, #16 [129 listed]; TJC 32; Svoronos-Unlisted

See also: R Deutsch Six Unrecorded 'Yehud' Silver Coins, in Israel Numismatic Journal vol 11, no 4 1990/1991. Also: Ya’akov Meshorer, Ancient Jewish Coinage 1 (New York: Amphora, 1982), pp 13-34 & Meshorer Ancient Jewish Coinage. Addendum in INJ vol 11 no 104 1990/1991. Leo Mildenberg in Essays Thompson (1979). Also see INJ vol 5, pp 4 and Uriel Rappaport, The Coins of Jerusalem at the End of Persian Rule and the Beginning of the Hellenistic Period, in "Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period: Schalit Memorial Volume," ed. Aaron Oppenheimer et al. (Jerusalem: Ben Zvi Institute, 1981), pp 11-21 (in Hebrew). Yigal Ronen (Near Eastern Archeaology, vol 61, no 2, 1998). Ronen classes Ptolemaic Jerusalem coins of average weight 0.18g as one quarter obol (tetartemorion).

- Broucheion

 

Nice thread! I like tiny Green coins. Sometimes I wonder how people back in the day managed to not loose them all the time. Then I look at my collection and realize that they apparently did loose them quite often considering the number of surviving examples...


Gaul, Massalia, obol, ca. 4th–1st century BC. Obv: Youthful male head (river god?) left. Rev: MA in wheel with four spokes. 10.65mm, 0.75g. Ref: SNG Copenhagen 723–728; de la Tour 1892, no. 689 or similar.


Lycaonia, Laranda, AR obol, 324–323 BC. Obv: Baal Tars seated on throne n.l., holding grain ears and grapes in r. hand and sceptre in l. hand. Rev: forepart of wolf r., in field l., ⌒. 10mm, 0.59g. Göktürk: Small Coins from Cilicia (2000), no. 82 ff.; SNG Levante 223 (for Cilicia); SNG France 443 (for Cilicia).


Macedonia, Eion, AR trihemiobol, ca. 460-400 BC. Obv: Goose standing r., head turned l.; lizard curving l. above; H to lower r. Rev: quadripartite incuse square. 12 mm, 0,71g. Ref: SNG Cop 179.


Mysia, Kyzikos, AR hemiobol (?), c. 480–450 BC. Obv: roaring lion’s head l.; star above. Rev: forepart of boar l.; tunny behind. 8mm, 0.25g. Ref: BMC 120; Sear Greek 3850.


Thessaly, Larissa, AR obol, ca. 344–337 BC (?). Obv: head of the nymph Larissa facing slightly l., hair in ampyx, with necklace. Rev: [ΛΑΡΙΣ]-ΑΙΩΝ; horse grazing r. 11mm, 0.79g. Ref: BCD Thessaly I (2011), no. 1163; BCD Thessaly II (2013), no. 328, 342–344; SNG Copenhagen 135. Ex FSR, auction 106, lot 59; ex CNG, e-auction 395, lot 94; ex BCD collection.


Islands off Thrace, Thasos, AR trihemiobol, c. 411-350 BC. Obv: Satyr kneeling l., holding kylix. Rev: ΘAΣ-IΩN; amphora. 12mm, 0.87g. Ref: SNG Copenhagen 103.