I recently picked up a rather rare Civic Issue from Antioch. Looking at the coin, one might assume that this is a McAlee 130 var. and that is what I have found on many of the other "examples" I have found. But there are two issues that need to be addressed. 1. The coin is dated ΔIP which makes this a year 111 coin. Time of Nero. Not ZOP as shown on McAlee 130 2. The weight is half that of McAlee 130 (3.1-4.1 vs 1.41g) I tried to follow the crisscrossed references in McAlee to try and determine if this is chalkon or dichalkon. If anyone has a decent grasp of the weights I would greatly appreciate any help in determining what denomination I should attribute to this coin! This is a 1.41g @ 13mm Here's a better example from an Agora Sale 47 Lot 55. This coin is identical in weight and size. Here's an example of McAlee 130 @ 3.1g, 15mm and ZOP
OK I have 152 views and no responses...so let's pull this back to the top of the heap and maybe ask my questions differently... This is a very small coin if it is a chalkon. So, is it one? If so, what makes it one?
Not all provincial cities used the same standards for their coins size and weight. The only city that I'm aware of that names it's denomination is Chios. Dichalkon, Civic Coinage of Chios, Ionia. Reign of Augustus - 150 AD Obverse: XI-W-N, Sphinx left, forepaw raised. Reverse: DIXA-LKON, amphora, dotted border. 14mm and 1.8gms BMC Ionia 114 RPC explains this better. "Most provincial coins lack marks of value. People in the ancient world — as well as modern scholars trying to reconstruct provincial denominational systems — have had to rely on the metal, size, and weight of a coin and the image it bears in order to determine its face value. Presumably this was well-known when the coin was issued, but we have avoided assigning conjectural values to the coins in the website." https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/introduction/worth
