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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Pavlos, post: 7623777, member: 96635&quot;]I am talking here about Metapontion! The city is located in the region of Lucania in Magna Graecia and is well know as all of it&#039;s coins contain something related to grain (mostly an ear of grain).</p><p><br /></p><p>What makes the early coinage (540-440 BC) extra special is the incuse fabric used on the reverse of the coins. The fabric of the incuse coins were used in common by almost all of the Achaean cities in Magna Graecia before the fall of Sybaris, and it was thought that there must have been a monetary confederation.</p><p><br /></p><p>Hereby the coin:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1311835[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Lucania, Metapontion. AR Nomos. Circa 470-440 BC. </b></p><p><b>Obverse: </b>Ear of barley with five grains; head of ram to left, retrograde MET up right field.</p><p><b>Reverse:</b> Incuse ear of barley with six grains.</p><p><b>Reference:</b> HN Italy 1485</p><p>8.17g; 19mm</p><p><br /></p><p>The minting process of the incuse fabric is very expensive and time consuming. To cut the reverse die directly, the die-cutter would have had to remove the entire surface of the die, with the exception of the ear itself and the rim, and he would have had to cut to a depth equal to the relief of the highest point of the ear. In other words, about three-quarters of the surface to a uniform depth of nearly 4 mm would have to be removed and all of the delicate portions of the relief would have to be left untouched, including the rim as well as the awns. Just realize what kind of artists were making these kind of dies!</p><p><br /></p><p>The first coins of this type (540-510 BC) were made on wide and thin flans, they are very impressive.</p><p>However, the ancient coin user apparently did not find these impressive and disliked them. Eventhough they were a Nomos (Didrachm) and they all weighted around 8.1g, just as similar coins from other regions, they felt &#039;light&#039; in the hand due to the large diameter and thin flan. Therefore, over time the coins started to get thicker and chunkier. My above coin is the last of the series (470-440 BC), and only has a diameter of 19mm! Compare that with the ~29mm of the first series (540-510 BC).</p><p><br /></p><p>After 440 BC the incuse fabric ceased to exist. It is easy to guess the reason, the effort of time and money to make these coins at great volume was not worth it.</p><p><br /></p><p>Please post your coins of Metapontion![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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