I'm such a sucker for a pretty face

One of the highlights of my Greek collection
AR tetradrachm 16.71gm - 33 mm

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Great coins everybody. One thing I have noticed is that many of them are not very flat. Mine is slightly curved, but shows no sign of having been bent and re-straightened, indicating it could have been made that way. Anybody have any idea as to why that would be?

 

I believe that's the way the dies were created. Someone who knows more will hopefully chime in.

 

Ancient minters discovered that metal flowed better into the dies if the anvil die (typically the obverse die) was concave, and the moveable (typically reverse) die was convex. Also, the flan was better held in place during striking by a concave die. So yes, frequently ancient coins have this sort of shape, particularly in the case of larger silver coins.