Both silver. AR in description means silver. Just remembered there is another candidate Mysia. Kyzikos circa 480-400 BC. Hemiobol AR 9 mm., 0,40 g. Kyzicus, Mysia, AR hemiobol, After 480 BC, Forepart of boar left, tunny upward behind. / Lion head roaring left, small facing panther head above. Rosen 522
India Matsya AR Vimsatika 650-600 BC stamped bankers marks India Gandahara AR Bent Bar 11.3g 650-600 BCE long early type RARE two dots - also have on BOTH sides VERY RARE INDIA Gandhara 6-5C BCE AR Shana or 1-8 Shatamana 15mm 1.4g Six armed Taxila symbol pellet between - Blank - Pieper 12 Rajgor Series 41 China Zhou Dynasty 1046-256 BCE AE Fish Money 67mm 9.5g AB Coole Enc Chinese Coins 6920ff China Shang Dyn 1766-1154 BC Ant Nose Ge Liu Zhu 2.6g 19-5x11 very scarce H 1.10 China Zhou -Chou- 1000-200 BCE Dynasty Bronze cowrie Tong Bei - VF - Rare China Shang 1766-1154 BCE or Zhou Dynasty Ghost Face Ant Nose 1.65g Hartill 1.4 China Ming Knife money 400-220 BCE bronze Hartill 4.42-3 Italia Aes Rude - bronze ca 5th-4th Century BCE 29.7mm 32.4g rough Uncia in value
APOLLONIA PONTIKA AR Hemiobol OBVERSE: Anchor, A in field REVERSE: Swastika with two parallel lines in each quadrant Struck at Apollonia Pontika, circa 500BC .28g, 6.54mm SNG BM 149; Moushmov 3146 ex. Aegean Numismaics
Persia Achaemenid Empire Darius I 510-486 BC AR 0.11g 5mm 1-32nd Siglos Persian hero-king in running incuse Klein 758 Rare China Zhou Dyn 1122-255 BC AE Small Sq Ft Spade An Yang 30x45mm 5.27g H3.182 S-13+ ITALIA Aes Formatum AE Bronze Ax Head ca 5th-4th C BCE Sextans size 44.8mm 56g Sarmatia - Olbia 5th C BCE AE Cast Dolphin 27mm 1.75g Israelite AR 2 Gerah Hacksilber ca 8-6 C BCE 8.8x10mm 1.12g ex David Hendin RARE India- Shakya Janapada AR 5-Shana 6th-5th C BCE Buddha Ref-Hiramo-I-8-29 RARE 19 known Celtic AE 3 Arches Ring 700-500 BCE 3.0g 23mm DePew Collection Celtic AE Ring 800-500 BCE
My unambiguously oldest ancient is this 1/2 stater or siglos of Croesus, minted 561-546 BC. Slightly younger but still 6th century BC is this archaic "fish head" obol from Kyzikos Then there is this one, at .35g it seems to be a 1/48 stater, although I am uncertain whether this is a 7th century BC proto-coin or simply an un-struck flan Honorable mention goes to the "first" coin of India, a bent bar shatamana from Gandhara, although I seriously doubt the 600 BC figure- this one is probably 5th century BC Chinese coinage is much more contended than Greek coinage; I have this Ant Nose cowrie imitation listed as 4th-3rd century BC, but I have seen claims going as far back as 1000 BC
Ionia Kolophon AR Tetartemorion 530-520 BCE Archaic Apollo Incuse Punch 0.15g 4.5mm- SNG Kayhan 343 Left ARKADIA Tegea AR Tetartemorion 0.2g 6mm 423-400 BCE Helmeted Hd Athena Alea T within incuse BCD Peloponnesos War 1721 HGC 5 Ionia AR Tetartemorion 4mm 0.13g 530-500 BCE Rosette - Incuse sq punch 5 pellets SNG von Aulock 1807
This is the earliest coin, a trite made of electrum, an alloy of gold and silver, originated from ancient Ionia (Turkey) dating back to ~660 BC: Shortly after that, the first letters appeared on a coin, this trite which reads: "I am the badge of Phanes" (Phanes was possibly the moneyer or a government official; his identity has otherwise been lost): About 100 years later, King Croesus (of "Rich as Croesus" fame) separated gold and silver and created this type, the first pure gold coin:
@Gam3rBlake , since you have been studying Roman History... Oldest Roman SILVER Coin, first AR issued by Rome: RR Anon AR Heavy Denarius - Didrachm 310-300 BCE 7.3g 21mm Mars-Horse ROMANO - FIRST Cr 13-1 Left My oldest Roman BRONZE: RR 280-276 BCE Anon Aes Grave Triens Thunderbolt-Dolphin Rome Obv-IN HAND Crawford 14-3 Thurlow Vecchi 3
Some amazing OLD coins shown! My two oldest coins I've posted before but what can I do, they are my oldest! Ionia, Phokaia, c. 350-300 BC. Æ (15mm, 4.36g, 11h). Phokleon, magistrate. Obverse..Head of Hermes facing left wearing a Petasos hat tied at the back. Reverse..Forepart of a griffin springing left. ΦΩKAEΩN (PHOKAEON), name of the magistrate below. SNG Copenhagen 1039ff (magistrate); BMC 101. Yes it's an interesting set to collect.....Nerva being the most expensive usually, obviously depending on the types you choose for the other four.... Here's mine I completed last year...I've added the ladies too just to give it a bit of depth....
Thrace, Chersonese AR Hemidrachm 400-350 BCE. 11mm. Now, I am a total newbie when it comes to Ancients, so please forgive me if this information is in any way incorrect. Please feel free to correct me.
Beautiful examples of course. I wanted something from around the beginning of figures appearing on coins. Love your Phanes trite. Have been tempted by Phanes smaller fractions, but have resisted. Also wanted something a bit different to the reasonably common Lydian trite with the lion and wart on it's nose. So bought this a few years ago. Electrum trite from an uncertain mint in Ionia. Possibly Klazomenae, as I've read the ram is associated with that city. My guess is around 580 BC. It's not perfect, some roughness on the obverse, but nicely centred. This photo does it no justice at all. It is much nicer in hand. I particularly like the attempt at a stick figure leg and foot under the rams body and head.
Another oldie but goldie (in fact... silver) Troas. Tenedos circa 480-450 BC. Obol AR 7 mm., 0,52 g. Islands off Troas, Tenedos AR Obol. Circa 5th Century BC. Janiform head of female, facing left, and bearded male (Philonome and Tenes), facing right / Labrys (double axe) within shallow incuse; T-E across fields. SNG München 340; SNG Copenhagen 509; HGC 6, 387; SNG von Aulock 7666. I love these very old small (but artistic) coins, before I saw the first one I had no idea something like this existed.
This is one of my oldest coins Unknown Possibly northern Ionian. Electrum hekte 600-550 BC Obv. Swastika or mill sail pattern Rv Incuse quadripartite square. Anepigraphic Rosen 314 2.71 grms 11mm Photo by W. Hansen Very little is actually known about this coin. It is an hekte and with XRF analysis this coin had a gold content of 58% which would suggest an earlier date of manufacture however some of these coins are known to have a "flattened" reverse which would suggest that these coins were still being struck during the reign of Kroisos as this design feature appears to have started sometime during his reign. Thus crudity in design is unfortunately no guarantee of age. My friend W. Hansen wrote two articles in the Planchet studying the purity of the gold coins that existed in our two collections. They are the January and March issue of that magizine. Link can be found below.