Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1045237, member: 19463&quot;]At the risk of starting a run on coins I like: When I have addressed school groups, the coin story that gets the most attention is the one answering the question about how you carry coins when you have no pockets. One answer is &#039;in your mouth&#039;. In the 5th century BC, Athens had a range of small silver denominations most common of which is the obol. The Greek poet Aristophanes wrote a play &#039;The Birds&#039; in which a man was so awestruck by a magnificent bird flying overhead that his mouth went agape and he swallowed the money he was intending to use to pay the miller to grind his grain into flour. The theory is that these small (obol = .7g) coins could be secreted between cheek and gums and spit out when needed. It also prevented robbing to a degree since you could swallow them and retrieve them in a couple days. This gets their attention. Many kids have no idea that Louis Pasteur pointed out that germs were bad for you only a little over a century ago so Greeks could accept spitting coins out and popping change back in. The average man did not have coins like tetradrachms and certainly did not carry them around all the time so this only applies to the minor silver that was terribly inconvenient to keep in a purse. The coin shown here is not my nicest looking obol but a little imagination might show tooth shaped dents in the middle of both sides. Of course these could be other damage. Would I pay extra for an obol with clear chew marks? No, too easy to fake.&nbsp; Horseman gore is cool but &#039;Eeewww Gross&#039; wins every time. :mouth:[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in