I took the coins out to "play" with them and I thought it would be fun to revisit one of my favorute Bronze coins. For your enjoyment, here is a rather tiny, scarce and majestic high quality bronze piddler from Cebren, Troas (Troy) in Asia Minor. Struck around 350-310 BC, 8 mm and 0.92 grams, the coin features a dark even black patina with some nice original dirt. The youthful head of Apollo is clearly defined on a obverse. The reverse features a Ram's head right. I know many out there like those big coins and I am certainly one of them, but I just cant ignore how tiny and well executed this piece is. Many scholars have attempted to debunk the use of optical magnification in ancient times, but as far as I am concerned the proof is in the pudding. I have 20/20 vision the coin is almost uncomfortable to look at, a die would be impossible to engrave with the naked eye. The man or men that made this had some serious spectacles. I believe the modern consensus for the transportation and loss prevention of such a coin was such that the ancient fella carried the coin in his mouth, as the purse could be stolen and then pocket had not been introduced to Europe yet.
Hey Noob ... nice, that's a sweet lookin' Ram you've got there!! => thanks for bringing it out and parading it around ...
There is the theory that such things were made by guys like me. I have extremely sharp vision but require glasses to be able to see sharply beyond about 8 inches from my face. When I examine coins, I can just look over the top of my glasses. As we age, my eye doctor says it is common for the glasses prescription to weaken and I do believe that I was able to see most sharply a lot closer years ago not to mention that young eye can accommodate to focus on close things. I never used a magnifying glass when I was a young collector since my unassisted eyes could focus on things 2-3 inches away. You 20/20 types will someday be buying reading glasses because you arms are too short to hold books out where you can see them. I have also heard this theory discredited but the fact remains that, had I been born in the 5th century BC, I would not have made much of a soldier or a scout for the army but I could have learned to do very close work better than those war heroes as long as I did not trip over things getting to the workplace.
ahaha => yah, I am currently looking into getting arm-extentions!! (yes, I have the opposite eye-problem than yours ... I can rival an eagle at spotting a mouse in a yonder field, but I can't read the back of a soup tin to see if I'm supposed to add 1 cup or 1/2 a cup of milk!!)
My eyes are similar to Doug's, only worse. I can focus clearly at 2 inches - my prescription is a +17. I'm not saying magnification is out of the question, but I'm guessing quite a few engravers were very near-sighted.
A fun part is that you can mystify people by reading things on coins that they can't find even with their magnifier.
It's a wonder natural selection didn't cull us near-sighted folk from the gene pool long ago. I mean, we wouldn't have seen the Saber-Toothed Tiger until he was on top of us.
great little coin! I've noticed for small thing like that, I can't get it close enough to see clearly because the presbyopia is kicking in (I'm 42..so right along with bing and my shrinking arms), but I also can't see for @beep@ beyond 20 feet because I'm near sighted. suppose it's time for bifocals.....uuuugh.