that's an awesome little coin, amazing how much it is able to look like it's big brothers considering how tiny it is.
I'm always amazed at how they could put that much detail on such a tiny surface. They had to hand carve those dies, and it's hard if they had good magnifying lenses of any sort. I'd love a good example of a tiny Greek coin like this.
Ditto. Here is one of my istsy bitsy coins: AEOLIS, KYME AR Hemiobol OBVERSE: Eagle's head left, KY to left (M beneath the head, nearly off flan) REVERSE: Quadrapartite incuse square of mill-sail pattern Struck at Aeolis, 450BC .46g, 7mm SNG Cop 32
What mint is your obol? I believe mine is Arados. The only part of my collection that my daughter wants when I am gone are my 'Tiny Treasures'. I keep them separately to make that easier when the time comes. To make the cut, a coin has to be smaller than an obol. I notice a lot more interest in them lately which means I am not getting as many. Certainly many of them are in poor condition since they tend to be individual finds not protested by pots with other coins. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/tiny.html #1 on my want list is a 1/8th obol of Athens but they almost never show up. Most so identified are Eastern copies rather than Athenians or terrible condition larger denominations. I bought the ugly thing below as what it is - a 1/4 obol at 0.15g. It shows the helmet rather well but sorry about the face. This is my space filler. Hopefully I'll get a better one someday.
I don't collect ancient Greek but I do have very small Roman coins, most notably two of my rarest coins, the Western Roman emperors Majorian (457-461 AD) and his successor Libius Severus (461-465 AD). Majorian, Western Roman Empire AE nummus Obv: D N IVL MAIORIANVS PF AVG, pearl-diademed, draped bust right Rev: VICTORI-A AVGGG, Victory advancing right, holding palm branch and trophy Mint: Milan (Mintmark: MD; struck 457-461 AD) Ref: RIC X 2642 11 mm Libius Severus, Western Roman Empire AE nummus Obv: D N LIBIVS SEVERVS P F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped bust right Rev: Monogram of Ricimer within wreath Mint: Rome (struck 461-467 AD; Libius Severus reigned 461-465 AD) Ref: RIC X 2715 9 mm
What a cool bitty coin, and in relatively excellent condition to boot. My little archaic flyspeck is a troll in comparison. MYSIA, Kyzikos (?) Circa 525 - 475 BC AR Hemiobol 0.26g, 6.8mm Apparently unpublished, known from a h̶a̶n̶d̶f̶u̶l̶ thimbleful of examples. cf. CNG 213 Lot 151 O: Head of Attis right, wearing Phrygian cap. R: Quadripartite incuse square.
I love small coins. The artistry is often equal or better than their larger brethren and the ability to physically engrave upon such a small canvas is very impressive. Here are a few of mine in silver: Akragas obol (0.79 grams) Aegina obol (0.91 grams) And a mini-denomination set of electrum (still looking for a 1/48th and 1/96th stater: Lesbos hekte (1/6th, 10mm, 2.55 grams) Ram hemihekte (1/12th, 8mm) Phokaia myshemihekte (1/24th, 6mm, 0.66 grams)
Wow, Severatus => fantastic new addition!! (super sweet, congrats) Here are a few of my lil' darlings ... I'll give more details when I get home from work, later today (man, sometimes work gets in the way of good quality coining!!) ISLANDS off THRACE, Thasos AR Sixteenth Stater – Hemiobol Circa 500-480 BC Diameter: 8 mm Weight: 0.56 grams IONIA, Ephesos, AR Tetartemorion Circa 500-420 BC Diameter: 5 x 8 mm Weight: 0.17 grams IONIA, Erythrai. AR Hemiobol Circa 480-450 BC Diameter: 6 mm Weight: 0.29 grams LESBOS, Mytilene. EL Hekte – Sixth Stater Circa 478-455 BC Diameter: 10 mm Weight: 2.48 grams LESBOS, OBOL (graphics by Coin Princess) 500-450 BC Diameter: 9 mm Weight: 1.05 grams TROAS, Kebren, AR Obol 5th century BC Diameter: 7 mm Weight: 0.61 grams TROAS, Kebren, AR Diobol 5th century BC Diameter: 8 mm Weight: 1.16 grams Ionia, Miletos AR Obol 475-325 BC Diameter: 9.5 mm Weight: 1.10 grams
Wow, Severatus... that is an exceptional tiny coin! Here are some of my smallest, edited to scale with a US dime for reference. Left to right, row by row, from the top: CALABRIA, Tarentum. AR litra, 11 mm CARIA, Mylasa. AR hemiobol, 7 x 9 mm ARKADIA, Psophis. AR obol, 10 mm MACEDON, Pangeion region. AR 5 mm, 0.26 gm ARKADIA, Arkadian League, Megalopolis. AR obol, 11 mm MYSIA, Pitane. AE 9 mm IONIA, Klazomenai. AR diobol, 9 mm IONIA, Klazomenai. AR diobol, 10 mm PHLIASIA, Phlius. AR obol, 11 mm SICILY, Selinos. AR litra, 11 mm CARIA, Kindya. AR tetrobol, 11 mm (but quite thick, 2.18 gm) 5 mm Macedonian monkey atop a 48 mm Ptolemy II bronze:
Thrace Mesembria. Diobol 1.31 gr MYSIA, Lampsakos. Diobol. 1.26 gr 11 mm. MYSIA. Kyzikos. Obol 0.79 gr 12 mm.
Ummm, I think 10 mm is the unwritten diameter of the "wee coin" ... yes? => well, I gots a few more of 'em!! MACEDON, Mende. AR Tritartemorion Circa 460-423 BC Diameter: 10 mm Weight: 0.62 grams MACEDON, Eion, AR Obol? (Tritartemorion?) Circa 460-400 BC Diameter: 10 mm Weight: 0.37 grams Caria, Mylasa, AR Hemiobol ca 450-400 BC Diameter: 7.9 mm Weight: 0.52 grams TROAS, Kebren, Æ9 Circa 400-387 BC Diameter: 9 mm Weight: 0.69 grams CILICIA, Uncertain, AR Obol 4th century BC Diameter: 10 mm Weight: 0.60 grams Rhodes AE10 Date: 350-300 BC Diameter: 10 mm Weight: 1.30 grams ARKADIA, Arkadian League. AR Obol Megalopolis mint Circa 340-330 BC Diameter: 10 mm Weight: 0.74 grams => well, that's most of 'em anyway (my hand is gettin' tired from typing!!) Man, I'm kinda like Gulliver, eh?!!
I'm OK with the 10mm number. It is what I used for one of my pages where I showed photo taken through my microscope and 10mm was the largest that would fit in that circle of view. Some of these are no longer the best shots I have of the coins but it is how I came to define 10mm as tiny for my purposes. I no longer use the camera that shot these even though it works fine and was my first digital camera. We have come a long way in the 15 years since I went digital. It is hard to believe that I paid $1000 for a camera in 2000 that is not as good as some $100 models today. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/microdigital.html
you're 100% correct ... 20 years ago I paid $5000 for a 48 inch rear-projection TV (man, I was cool back then?!!) I now have a 60 inch plasma ... pretty sure I got it for $1000 (with a stand)
Each and every of these little coins are true beauties Thanks for showing them folks, it's a wonder Q
Huh ... really? Ummm, I've always thought that it looked a wee bit phallic (but most things do) => damn that Rorshack!! (really, you guys don't see it?!)