Amazing Iona-Militos

I am just amazed with the incredible detail and hand-craftsmanship required to pound out these little silver-biscuits!

I am also always fascinated on using this TINY of a coin in commerce and transactions! In my grubby paws, I would drop or lose all my money and would always be a poor man! Or, at my age and bad eyesight, think this was one of the pills I have to pop!

I love the reverted lion's head...looks like roaring. However, the reverse has a very ornate pattern that I think is a subtle design, but is very complex to hand-carve into the dies. Especially in this size...


Iona-Miletos
Late 6th C - Early 5th C BCE
AR Obol (1/12 Stater)
9.5mm, 1.22g
Obv: Forepart of Lion, L, reverted.
Rev: Stellate Pattern within incuse square
SNG Kayhan 4627


Iona-Miletos
Late 6th C - Early 5th C BCE
AR Obol (1/12 Stater)
9.5mm x 9.7mm oblong, 1.2g
Obv: Forepart of Lion, L, reverted.
Rev: Stellate Pattern within incuse square
SNG Copenhagen 944-951; SNG Kayhan476-482

LOL, compare THESE with @TIF 's Carthage MONGO-BURGER Shekel or Ptolemy Tet!!!

I put them against my largest Ptolemy IV Tet:

Ptol IV Kissing the Lion!

Aaaannnd... Eagle doo-doo

Kingdom of Egypt
Ptolemy IV, 221-205
AE Drachm, 40.01mm x 7.2mm ('pert-near the WIDTH of the Obol) thick, 69.46g
Obv: Diademed head of Zeus Ammon r.
Rev: Eagle standing left on thunderbolt

Please feel free to toss down your little ones... I know there are a BUNCH tinier than mine...

 

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Very nice tiny coins!!

Here are a few of my favorite smallest coins .


CARIA, Mylasa
450-400 BCE
AR hemiobol, 7 x 9 mm, 0.5 gm
Obv: facing forepart of lion
Rev: scorpion within incuse square
Ref: SNG von Aulock 7803; Klein 429 (Milet)
This was one of my first supertiny coins. Despite knowing the measurements, seeing it was a shock. I paid too much for it but am not regretful. At the time, my rationalization was that I would give it to my mother, a Scorpio (she somewhat likes astrology and loves her scorpion symbol). I was able to justify not giving it to her because it was just too small. Her elderly eyes would not be able to appreciate it. I've bought several coins due to telling myself they were for gifts, knowing deep down that the gifts would never be given.


SICILY, Selinos
Circa 410 BCE
AR litra, 11mm, 0.76 g, 1h
Obv: nymph seated left on rock, right hand raised above her head, extending her left hand to touch coiled serpent before her; selinon leaf above
Rev: man-faced bull standing right; ΣEΛINONTIOΣ above; in exergue, fish right
Ref: HGC 2, 1229; SNG ANS 711–2 var. (ethnic); SNG Ashmolean 1904–5; SNG Lloyd 1270 var. (same); Basel –; Dewing –; Rizzo pl. XXXIII, 6. Good VF, dark iridescent tone, some porosity. Rare.
ex MoneyMuseum, Zurich;
ex Leu 79 (31 October 2000), lot 404;
ex Athos Moretti collection, #482, unpublished manuscript


MACEDON, Pangeion region
Uncertain mint, 5th century BCE
AR 5 mm, 0.26 gm
Obv: monkey squatting left
Rev: round shield or pellet within incuse square
Ref: "Uncertain Thraco-Macedonian Coins, Part II", Nomismatika Khronika (1998), 67
This enigmatic series showing a monkey squatting either right or left with a round shield on the reverse, is the only Greek coinage of the classical period to depict such an animal. Monkeys are known to have been kept as house pets in antiquity, but its significance in this context is unknown.


CALABRIA, Tarentum
325-280 BCE
AR litra, 11 mm, 0.56 gm
Obv: cockle shell
Rev: dolphin right, trident below (I think it might be a bunch of grapes)
Ref: Vlasto 1530 (if grapes rather than trident, Vlasto 1527)
freed from its slab, NGC Choice VF 5/5-3/5; cert# 3601372-003


CELTIC, Central Europe (Rhineland). "Dancing Mannikin" type
65 -40 BCE, or thereabouts
AR Quinarius, 13 mm, 1.62 gm
Obv: dancing mannikin right, head turned left, holding snake in right hand, torque in left hand.
Rev: horse standing right, head turned left; around, zig zag border.
Ref: SLM 1118. Dembski 73, 396. (I'll have to take the seller's word on that for now. If any of you have a Celtic reference and find this inaccurate, please let me know.)

 

Way cool Al, the details on the kitty are great, to cut a dies that small with all that detail. Wow!! i've been working with my forge and melting copper, brass, bronze, silver and gold. want to make some planchets and want to cut my own dies and see what i can come up with, not to remake ancients, but my own coins!!
Here's my little bee..10mm

 

Great new additions Brian! I love these coins because they have great character, and they're easy to collect, being plentiful and affordable. So why don't I have one yet? Well, I've only recently started exploring fractional Greek silver so I thought I'd start with the smallest denominations first. Here's a 1/48th stater of Kolophon, a mere flyspeck at 5mm, 0.14g!



Here it is on my sestertius of Gordian III...

 

This thread gives me the urge to go buy a coin, but tracking says I have eight arriving in the mail today. That would be bad, right? I should be happy with what I have, yes? No?

 

Buy more!!!

 

HEY EVERYONE, Honest to goodness; How in the heck did they USE these coins??? I understand silver was precious, and values were different at that time... AND, I understand folks were proportionately smaller than people today.

I knew you all would post much smaller coins (ie: @TIF w/ 0.26g; and @John Anthony w/ LOL, 0.14g). But, how did people USE them (and yes, I understand folks may not have transacted as frequently as we use coins today...)

WOW, I showed my Tet and Obol difference to my wife, and she just laughed. She has tiny hands, and she always has made the comment that she could not use these tiny coins!

 

LOL, BUY-MORE! BUY-MORE! BUY-MORE! BUY-MORE! BUY-MORE!

C'mon, it's back-to-school season, you are spending skads of cash on kids school "schtuff" that will only disintegrate within the school year! Get a couple thousand year old coin or two to justify the money you spent on short-term consumables!!!

 

@TIF
"SICILY, Selinos
Circa 410 BCE
AR litra, 11mm, 0.76 g, 1h
Obv: nymph seated left on rock, right hand raised above her head, extending her left hand to touch coiled serpent before her; selinon leaf above
Rev: man-faced bull standing right; ΣEΛINONTIOΣ above; in exergue, fish right
Ref: HGC 2, 1229; SNG ANS 711–2 var. (ethnic); SNG Ashmolean 1904–5; SNG Lloyd 1270 var. (same); Basel –; Dewing –; Rizzo pl. XXXIII, 6. Good VF, dark iridescent tone, some porosity. Rare.
ex MoneyMuseum, Zurich;
ex Leu 79 (31 October 2000), lot 404;
ex Athos Moretti collection, #482, unpublished manuscript"


I really think Archeloos is a cool river-god dude. Just kinda looks like he is mellow, and always hanging-out on coins...

And that Nymph looks like she is ready to SLAP that snake! She looks ANGRY!

 

Wow, awesome coins guys, so small!

 

These coins were bigger back in the day because people were smaller, considerably smaller. Only in the last century have we all become so large because of modern health care and vitamins, growth hormones, and McDonalds. Think about it. Have you ever sat in a 19th-century theater with original seats?

MURCA!!

 

LMAO!!!

 

'MURCA!!! Hmmmm.... Maybe that's why I like collecting Humpty-Dumpty's!!!

 

Also they probably didn't carry them around in their pockets like we do (don't even think they had pockets?) They would have them in purses or coin sacks. Less likely to just have one fall out.

 

Agreed to the purses / sacks... I would still have difficulties either reaching in the sack or pulling them out! I would drop and spill them everywhere!

 

LOL, I am GLAD you redeemed yourself...I knew the SECOND you said you bought it for your mother that you were fibbin' yourself! LOL... giving coins to your mother...give me a break... LOL. I bought a few for my wife (Bee hemidrachm from Ephesos, Alexander III drachm), but nooooo....they are in MY ALBUM...not her purse. I just SHOWED them to her...

 

Buy moar!

 

Ok, I have a bead on something that closes in a few hours, but you guys are gonna have a good chuckle at me if I win it.

 

My smallest (I've shown a few times)

AEOLIS, KYME
AR Hemiobol
OBVERSE: Eagle's head left, KY to left (M beneath the head, nearly off flan)
REVERSE: Quadrapartite incuse square of mill-sail pattern
Struck at Aeolis, 450BC
.46g, 7mm
SNG Cop 32

 

LOL, I was scrolling down, and saw Der Bingle's coin...said, nope, that Eagle is 'Murican too, not ancient...then scrolled down next pic further... Quarter... LOL