Tiny Greek, Big Artistry

Right. That's why they were (eventually) replaced with copper coins and disappeared from coinages.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

excellent tiny coin bing...that ram head is awesome. an archaic apollo mini is on my list!


i get the logic behind the tiny fractional silvers, and the larger bronze coins so you don't have currency the size of rice grains...but why these little tiny AE coins?



Magnesia, Ionia. c. 400 BC

Obv. Laureate head of Apollo left. Rev. Cuirass, M - A in fields. SNG Kayhan 393. 7 mm 0.5g

 

Wow, big bro => congrats on scoring a fantastic sheep coin!!

The sheep is out of the pen ... I repeat, the sheep is out of the pen!!

 

Ummm, I happen to have a few of these tiny, sweet sheep from Kebren ...

=> wanna see 'em?

AE9
9 mm
0.69 grams



AR Diobol
8 mm
1.16 grams



AR Obol
7 mm
0.61 grams




... baaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!

 

Bing => the weight of your new farm-animal indicates that it's most likely an "obol" rather than a diobol (see attached CNG examples)

https://cngcoins.com/Search.aspx?PAGE_NUM=&PAGE=1&TABS_TYPE=2&CONTAINER_TYPE_ID=1&IS_ADVANCED=1&ITEM_DESC=Troas kebren &ITEM_IS_SOLD=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_1=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_3=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_2=1

... I'm just sayin'

 

You're too late. Z already informed me. But thanks anyway.

 

@Bing These have always been a marvel to me and yours is a great example. I will have to go see what my smallest ancient is!

 

This not my smallest coin. It's this coin from Mylasa

MYLASA, CARIA
AR Tetartemorion
OBVERSE: Lion's head left with reversed foreleg below
REVERSE: Lion's scalp facing, flanked by leg on both sides, in incuse circle
Struck at Mylasa, 392-376 BC
.2g, 6mm
SNG Keckman I 837-846 (lion left)

 

Neat coin. I got this one from one of JA's sales this year. Mine is also 9mm but is slightly lighter than @Valentinian's coin. It didn't make my favorite 6 of 2016 but it certainly could have.

CILICIA, Tarsos
AR Obol
379-372 BC
9 mm, 0.65 grams
Obv: Facing female head turned slightly
left, wearing single-pendant
earrings and necklace.
Rev: Bearded and helmeted male
head (Ares?) left wearing crested
Athenian helmet; 'HLK' in Aramaic
to left, no monogram to right.
Grade: aVF with good fabric and toning.
Attractive, well centered tiny coin with only a portion of the reverse Aramaic legend & some crest off flan.
Other: Time of Satraps Pharnabazos and Datames. Casabonne Series 2, SNG Levante 89 var. without monogram. This coin (same coin) was previously listed by Naville Numismatics in their live auction #9, 14 Sep 2014. NN attributed it to Göktürk 21-2 var. (fish on obv?); SNG France 303. From JAZ Numismatics May 2016.


Here is a little Athens owl coin:

ATTICA, Athens.
AR Hemiobol
454-404 B.C.
0.34 grams, 6.2 - 6.9 mm
Obv: Helmeted head of Athena right.
Rev: Owl standing right, head facing,
olive sprig behind. AΘE.
Grade: Overall VF with the owl, olive
sprig, and AΘE sharply struck &
centered. The Athena obverse is
somewhat more worn & off center.
Other: SNG Copenhagen 59.
May 2014 Pecunem Sale 16, lot # 498.

 

The Ancients were quite familiar with copper (recall the "Bronze Age") as a metal and could have made small size copper coins for storing in one's mouth at a time when pockets and purses were still uncommon. They did not because copper tastes awful. Try sucking on a two cent piece for 20 minutes and a tiny silver piece tastes pretty good. Actually no taste at all, which is why dentists have used gold and silver for centuries. And in a pinch (or a robbery) you could swallow the tiny silver coins the size of vitamin pill and retrieve them from one's, well, later on.

 

I can understand why purses were invented!!!!!!!!

 

I have SEVERAL "little guys" for coins, under 1.0g. Here are a few:

This one is pretty hard to find:

Makedon Alexander III 336-323 BC AR Obol 7mm 0.51g Babylon Lifetime Herakles lion skin Club bow quiver monogram in wreath M Price 3744


Sicily Gela AR Litra Horse-Achelous 0.63g 13mm 465-450 BCE Obv-Rev HGC 2 p 373


Mysia Kyzikos AR Hemiobol 480-450 BCE 0.4g Boar-Lion Sear 3850
Ex: @red_spork

This is my smallest at present...

Persian Achaemenid Empire Darius I 510-486 BC AR 0.11g 5mm Persian hero-king in running-kneeling position Oblong incuse Klein 758 Rare

 

nice coin never seen type

 

MYSIA. Kyzikos. Obol
0.79 gr
12 mm
MYSIA, Lampsakos. AR Diobol Circa 500-450 BC Female janiform head
1.26 gr
11 mm

 

Did you know that the late Leo Mildenberg, the founder of the Bank Leu numismatic department, owned a fine collection of Greek miniatures, all weighing below one gram? In fact, as he was able to carry his collection in his pocket, he saved it when he escaped from a Siberian forced labor camp just after WWII. This collection was then enriched further in the 50's and 60's and eventually sold to a Paris collector who went on to build a very extensive collection of fractions that I had the privilege to admire a few years ago. There must be over one thousand silver miniatures there and it took me a whole day to examine and admire each one of them. Their eventual fate is uncertain as the collector vows to keep them until... 'Death do us part'...

 

While I realize you can not tell us the owner, I would be interested in hearing how the 1000 coins that size are stored. Coins under 1g are not terribly well served by standard answers. My meager gathering of about 100 'tinys' is greatly outweighed by the containers in which they are housed. A pocket with a pound of silver would be quite a lumpy affair.

It is sad when holders of huge collections will not have them cataloged as a book until death necessitates an auction catalog and they miss seeing the volume. Whether paper or just electronic, we could use a book listing a thousand such items.

 

It just seems silly to me. Why risk choking? I am sure that if it was a woman who had to carry the coins, she would wrap them up in a scrap of fabric. Then she would probably sew up the sides of the fabric to make it more secure. Then she would tie it to her belt. Or whatever.

 

Seems the logical next step after introducing coinage.

 

Wise words and I could not agree more with you. I told the collector exactly this but sometimes people, especially older people who have been through a lot in life and are set in their opinions, will not even consider alternatives. The coins were stored in several cheap plastic 10 x 10 cases that can fit on top of one another. Each tray is covered by a plexiglass cover to ensure the coins do not jump out. The makers ( I forget the name ) provide square pieces of felt with their product but it is a nuisance to place them in the grey plastic squares and sometimes, when removing a coin, they cling to the coin and come out as well. This collector had not bothered with the felts and removing a tiny fraction to examine it meant using your nail to lift it off the cold grey plastic.