Currently there is a thread on this board asking for folks to show off their gold. My gold doesn't fit in that group so I started a new thread. Coin collectors are famous for showing off their biggest and finest coins with pride. Ocassionally we even see someone asking what is the smallest coin. Frequently we see Indian Fanams touted as tiny but my pathetic remnant of a coin here makes them look like the mother lode when it comes to gold content. This bronze coin of Kaleb 520-540 AD from Aksum was issued to carry a tiny speck of gold on the reverse making the coin actually worth the face value at which it circulated. Gold coins have a way of being worth too much to be useful in daily trade unless they are so small that they are impractical. Aksum came up with a novel answer to the problem perhaps better than alloying the metal so no one would know it was there. They also have normal, larger pure gold coins but this one weighing only 0.4g copper included has to be in the running for the least gold to circulate as a coin. Aksum, by the way, also stands out for being an ancient African coin issuing authority. Becoming Christian slightly before Constantine in Rome, kings of Aksum often have a cross as the reverse type. Nice ones are not easy to find. This one is not very nice but its gold is still hanging on. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aksumite_Empire
That's tremendous, never heard of that before. Thanks Dougsmit for showing it. It must be very valuable to your eyes Q
Doug, you always have the most interesting information in your posts! How is the gold held on there? Is it pressure holding it on, was it heated in, or some other way I cannot think of in my current sleep deprived state? I'm not sure I would personally consider that a gold coin, much the same way I don't consider the current circulating US dimes, quarters and half dollars to be copper coins, despite the fact that they are indeed partially made of copper. But then again, metallic content means nothing to me anyway
The pressure of striking will cause metals to bond forming a region of alloy between them that will hold them together. It is possible that the flans were heated before striking which would make this even more efficient but we don't know all these specifics. Aksum issued several different gold enhanced designs including some with a thin gold leaf over a larger area and some with a small lump in the middle of the cross. I am not aware of any study addressing these questions and the coins are not common enough for many to be sacrificed to testing. For such ugly little coins, they are quite popular.
Doug, I've seen those before (only because I learn great things via my mentor ) but your's is defiantly one of the better ones I've seen. They can be pricey in really bad condition, as long as they have the gold on them. I can even see the obverse portrait, which is rare! lol stainless
Almost... Commodus bimetallic medallion, 189 AD I've been looking for a decent one for ages. I'll probably just end up buying Axumite gold first anyway.
Considering the going rate for genuine bimetallic medallions is more than most cars and some smaller houses, you can get a good sized stack of solid Aksumite gold. What is hard to find is a bronze in really good condition.
