I was not happy with the first photo I did of my 5mm 0.16g tetartemorion of Apollonia Pontika so I tried again. It is a tiny, dark silver coin with minimal detail as a type. I have not seen others in person. My new photo is not perfect but, I believe, shows that the coin included the letter A in the field just as did the larger coins of the style. Since the coin is only 5mm in diameter so the A is well under one mm. It is weak but I consider it certainly there where it should be when compared to the common larger coins of the type. Compare to the diobol which at 1.2g is worth about eight of the 0.16g coins. I wonder if it ever had a crayfish? I need to see other, better specimens of the little coin.
Is there a hint of an A in the right field as well? Looks like there may be. I squinted really hard to make it into a crawdad but that didn't work . Actually, I can imagine the left field mark as a crayfish and the right field mark as an A (I have a good imagination...):
Nice little coin, but thanks to TIF's psychological priming I can "see" both Alphas as well as the crustacean, so while it does appear that the element in the left field is more distinctly raised I dunno what to think now, hah. On a sidenote, I had grown suspicious of the earlier geometric incuse Apollonia Pontika coins due to a massive influx of apparent fakes, but thankfully they can't effectively fake crystallization as far as I know.
You may all see what you choose to see but the point is that Apollonia used an A and a crayfish on their coins of the larger denominations. If you are going to see something else on the little ones, you need a more clear coin. I am amazed they put the A on the coin and have no certain feeling that there is anything on the critter side but if there is something there, I would doubt it is a repeat of the city initial. Prove that one to me by finding another coin of this denomination and type that is in better shape than mine. I kick myself because I saw another similar coin in a case at Baltimore owned by a dealer whose prices guarantee I will never buy anything (if you have poor coins and high prices, don't expect a lot of people fighting for space at your table). It was displayed reverse up and I did not ask to see the other side since I already had mine and the price was 3x what I paid. I have no idea why it was reverse up or if it had any detail of note on the obverse. I wish I had asked.
