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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Gam3rBlake, post: 8106255, member: 115909&quot;]One thing I really enjoy collecting is REALLY old coinage. The older the better!</p><p><br /></p><p>I think what amazes me the most is that the gold &amp; silver in the oldest coinages wasn’t mined like it is today with diesel powered machinery.</p><p><br /></p><p>It was mined by slaves in dangerous conditions with a high fatality rate and low life expectancy. There is literally someone’s blood, sweat and tears in our ancient coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>The further back you go the more primitive the conditions would have been.</p><p><br /></p><p>Prior to this my oldest coin was an obol of Miletus from the late 6th century BC (~520BC).</p><p><br /></p><p>Well....that record got broken today! I picked up this itsy bitsy teeny tiny electrum (but it looks like high gold content) 1/24th stater from Ionia.</p><p><br /></p><p>I can&#039;t believe it&#039;s from the 7th century BC! We&#039;re talking about the times of Homer here! Several centuries before the Greek-Persian Wars that led to the fame of Leonidas and his 300 Spartans.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Sadly for me I don&#039;t think I&#039;ll be able to go much further back as this coin was minted around the time of the invention of coinage in Lydia xD.</p><p><br /></p><p>P.S. Keep in mind that even a teeny tiny electrum coin like this was about a day&#039;s wages and thus far too valuable to go buy a loaf of bread or make daily transactions.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1410090[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1410091[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><b>IONIA. Uncertain mint. Ca. 650-600 BC. EL 1/24 stater or myshemihecte (6mm, 0.56 gm). NGC Choice VF 4/5 - 5/5.</b> Lydo-Milesian standard. Symmetrical geometric floral design resembling fleur-de-lis / Incuse square. SNG Kayhan -. Elektron I 33. Linzalone 1142.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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