Tiny Greek, Big Artistry

In another thread, https://www.cointalk.com/threads/if-you-could-solve-one-mystery-about-ancient-coins.287552/, I said I would love to know the purpose for such tiny coins knowing change for larger coins was required. But this small size baffles my mind. Not only are they hard to handle, but I can imagine how easy they would be to loose in day-to-day commerce. @Ed Snible wanted to know how such tiny dies were cut and with such artistry and without any modern implements. Amazing!

One of my newest additions is such a coin. Weighing in at .56g and standing at 7mm I'm afraid to handle it. I might drop it and never find it again. It's not my smallest, but pretty darn close.

TROAS KEBREN
AR Diobol
OBVERSE: Archaic head of Apollo left
REVERSE: Ram'S head left within an incuse square
Struck at Troas, Kebren Circa 450 BC
.56g, 7mm
Rosen 534; Traité pl. xxxix, 25, SNG Ashmolean 1086
ex. Aegean Numismaics

Post your tiny coins or (as Steve might say) whateva' suits your fancy.

 

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Possible to phot it again next to a U.S. Dime?

 

A very neat coin Bing

 

Very nice Bing! Congrats! Really like the rams head.

 

Great coin - here is a close relative. Sellers pic - sorry I don't know how to make it larger. Amazing the die engraver got that much detail on the ram's head - this is really tiny in hand.



Troas, Kebren
AR hemiobol
Obv: head of ram right, K below
Rev: quadripartite incuse square
c.5th century BC
7mm, 0.32g
SNG Copenhagen 256

 

Another tiny and beautiful coin.

 

Nice little addition, JW.

 

We do this thread often enough that I need more tiny coins to avoid running out the same ones every time. There is even a tiny coin post over on CT Chat section started by a new person that chose that section rather than ancients.

Lete 1/8 stater 530-480 BC 0.76g Satyr


Therma, Macedon hemiobol 510-480 BC, .3g Pegasus


Kolophon, Ionia, tetartemorion 480-450 BC 0.2g
Apollo facing / TE retrograde indicates the denomination


This one would be one of my favorite coins i only the surfaces were all like the cheek. The artistry is magnificent for the size but exfoliation and crystallization make it less fun to see.
Hekatomnos, Satrap of Caria, tetartemorion 395-377 B.C., .2g lion/3/4 facing head of Apollo - I have seen higher grade examples but never one I though had better die work.

 

True, but I marvel with each tiny coin posted. I actually have another I purchased with this one, but I haven't photograph or it cataloged yet, so I'll be posting another in short order. Ya gotta admit, the artistry is spectacular for such small canvasses.

 

Here is a 9 mm obol from Tarsos, Clicia, said to be issued by "Datames" c. 378-372 BC (The same type is on much larger staters with clearer lettering, but, even so, the name of the issuer is in dispute.) An obol, it is 0.78 grams and has remarkable artwork. When you look at it, remember it is only 9 mm.

 

Cool thread.
I have a few tiny coins, unrelated but its been a while. One is an ugly ancient another not so ancient but still kinda interesting.
Macedon, Mende hemiobul
7mm, 0.1g, 480-460BC
Head of ass
Incuse, divided

Vijayangar Empire (India) gold
Bele=1/2 of a Haga or 1/4 Fanam
14th CAD, 0.75g

Tiny little coin, photo is taken through microscope. Tried for better pic these were best of the bunch.
Added: no artistry in these. The india is worn have never seen one in hand with the images that are suposed to be present. The obv. bottom pic, is a sacred image seen vases & leaves. rev, top pic royal legend not to sure.

 

I really like these small coins so I'll add another one - this is a coin that I couldn't resist because the goat looked so cool I ignored the poor horse.



Cilicia, Kelenderis
AR obol
Obv: horse prancing right
Rev: goat kneeling left, head right KE above
c.3rd century BC
11mm, 0.74g
SNG France 116-7, SNG Levante 29

 

Just for contrast as images can make these coins seem normal in size

 

One explanation that I've heard for the existence of such small coins is so that they could more easily be carried in the mouth Clothing in ancient times (tunics, stolas, togas, etc.) had no pockets, purses took a while to invent, and you can't just carry coins in your fist everywhere you go. Given a) the small number of naturally-occuring pouches in the human body, and b) all other choices are uncomfortable/ disgusting, carrying coins in the mouth may not have seemed like such a bad idea. (I don't have a written source for this claim, just vague memories, so take it with a heaping spoonful of salt.)

 

This also comes in a half or 1/24th stater replacing Ares with Aphrodite. Mine is 8x10mm but most were not hit so hard so they are smaller across. At 0.33g it is very thin. I would really like to see whatever the latest 'standard' reference is on these. If you look at sales listings over the last 30 years you see several 'opinions' of many of the Cilician coins. CNG has sold a couple hemiobols with Ares but I have no idea who issued which type.


It gets worse. The seller here shows a tetartemorion (half of my half) at 0.19g but I would have to see the edges of the coin to be sure it was not like mine and made more round.
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2344097

 

Here we have a Lincoln cent and three small coins.

The largest is a Bactrian obol, with clear BAΣIΛEΩΣ EYKPΑTIΔOY (King Eukratides) inscription. The middle piece is Greek or Persian and has an artistic facing depicting of Herakles with some kind of aegis or goat skin behind. The small coin is an Indian fanam with Nagari alphabet inscription "ShriRam Durg".

It is difficult to imagine dies for these being cut, even with magnification. I suspect the job was at least partially by feel rather than visually.

 

Most tiny silver coins are early, 4th C. BC and often earlier. When coins began, the were precious metal and had the value of the metal, perhaps with a small premium for being in coin form. The problem with coins having the value of precious metal is that gold and silver were very precious so one 4-gram silver coin was worth significantly more than a day's pay. If you wanted to buy something small, say, wine at a tavern, you couldn't make do with drachms, you needed smaller denominations. Even if coins began as a store of wealth or a way to make big payments, they became a way to buy small things. If you wanted something worth 1/20 of a day's pay, you would need a coin smaller than (1/20)4 = 0.20 grams, very small indeed, if the system is based solely on silver.

Throughout antiquity, silver was worth about 100 times as much as the same weight of copper. Even though copper was not precious and therefore not suitable for coins, someone had the idea to use it anyway. Sometime before 400 BC copper coins appeared at nominal values. We have all seen the huge Egyptian Ptolemaic copper coins of more than 40 mm diameter and 60 grams or more. That was probably an attempt to make the copper in the coin worth what the coin was supposed to be worth, as a fraction of a silver denomination. But that attempt was replaced by copper currency not worth in metal what it was worth in theory. It was "fiduciary" coinage. So is your money today. The paper in a $20 bill is not worth $20, but the government and the person you pass it to agree it is worth $20.

So, when coins were precious metal you needed very small coins for small transactions. Copper fiduciary coinage fixed that problem. Tiny silver coins disappeared. Larger copper coins replaced them. If you pay attention to the dates of the tiny silver coins in this thread, you will see they are quite early.

 

While I agree with @Valentinian for the need of "change", I find it hard to visualize the handling of these small pieces in daily commerce. I have also heard of the practice of carrying coins in the mouth as @Parthicus mentioned, but if there was need for change, wouldn't one have to carry several small coins in the mouth? And wouldn't the advent of coins make it immediately understood that there must be a way to carry them (other than in body orifices)? I know we are hypothesizing and all we have said may be true. Just no way of knowing is there.

 

@Bing, at that weight yours would be an obol rather than a diobol. SNG Ashmolean 1086 is for the more common diobol, but it's used as a 'compare with' reference.

These tiny silvers are great, and still clearly a field for more indepth study. At 11mm and 0.65g, this one is monster compared to some of those shown here, but it's still pretty tiny and packs a lot of artwork for the size.


CILICIA, Tarsos
Balakros, Satrap
AR Obol. 0.65g, 11.3mm. CILICIA, Tarsos. Balakros, Satrap, 333-323 BC. Casabonne Series 1, p. 230, pl. 4, 14; SNG France 489a–b; SNG Levante 123. O: Helmeted head of Athena right. R: Shield; B to left.
Ex Estate of Thomas Bentley Cederlind; Ex Cederlind 180 (14 Sep 2015), lot 51; Gorney & Mosch 229 (10 Mar 2015), lot 1401 (EUR 225)

 

Beautiful coin @zumbly. And thanks for the correction. I have already corrected my catalog.