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<p>[QUOTE="GinoLR, post: 8090533, member: 128351"]In fact Egypt had invented coins centuries before anybody else, but had later forgotten this. There is this small silver ingot, 41.55 g, struck with a jug-shaped die with the hieroglyphic inscription "<i>Tutankhamen sovereign of Heliopolis</i>". This Pharaoh is well-known, it's King Tut (1332-1323 BC). This ingot is extremely rare, see Michel Vallogia, « Note sur deux lingots d’argent de Toutankhamon », <i>Revue d’Égyptologie</i> 68 (2017-18) p. 141-152.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1406028[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Usually the Egyptian just traded goods for other goods or services, and merchants traded goods for precious metal ('hacksilber'). Let us not forget that the Egyptian regime was something like communism : most of the land was the King's or temples' property, ordinary people were supposed to cultivate a land that was not theirs and keep a share of the crop. Not very good for developing a domestic market...</p><p><br /></p><p>In the archaic period (7th-6th c. BC) Greek merchants were not welcomed in all the country but limited to a sort of free port, Naucratis. I suppose this was enough for them to introduce archaic silver coinage of different cities (Athens, Egina, etc.), and Egyptians began to use this Greek silver more and more often. In the 5th c., after the biggest Laurion mine was discovered between 490 and 480, most of the coins arriving in Egypt were Athenian, and the Egyptians got used to it, considering the Attic 'owls' their own currency. And when the flow dried after 404, they started to mint their own 'owls'.</p><p><br /></p><p>There were attempts to mint original Egyptian gold coins by the Pharaohs of the 30th Dynasty. Here is an extremely rare gold coin of Pharaoh Tachos or Teos (361-359 BC) : the types are imitated from Athens, even the legend is in Greek (ΤΑΩ). 8.27 g. Such a coin was probably minted to pay Greek mercenaries. Pharaoh Nektanebo (360-342 BC) also issued a gold coinage, with a hieroglyphic legend : <i>nub nefer</i> : "pure gold". 8.33 g. The weight of these Egyptian gold coins corresponds roughly to 2 Attic drachms, they had adopted the Attic system.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1406029[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Hey, wait a minute ! Not my coins of course: all this is of the most extreme rarity. The Tachos gold didrachm is from the British Museum.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="GinoLR, post: 8090533, member: 128351"]In fact Egypt had invented coins centuries before anybody else, but had later forgotten this. There is this small silver ingot, 41.55 g, struck with a jug-shaped die with the hieroglyphic inscription "[I]Tutankhamen sovereign of Heliopolis[/I]". This Pharaoh is well-known, it's King Tut (1332-1323 BC). This ingot is extremely rare, see Michel Vallogia, « Note sur deux lingots d’argent de Toutankhamon », [I]Revue d’Égyptologie[/I] 68 (2017-18) p. 141-152. [ATTACH=full]1406028[/ATTACH] Usually the Egyptian just traded goods for other goods or services, and merchants traded goods for precious metal ('hacksilber'). Let us not forget that the Egyptian regime was something like communism : most of the land was the King's or temples' property, ordinary people were supposed to cultivate a land that was not theirs and keep a share of the crop. Not very good for developing a domestic market... In the archaic period (7th-6th c. BC) Greek merchants were not welcomed in all the country but limited to a sort of free port, Naucratis. I suppose this was enough for them to introduce archaic silver coinage of different cities (Athens, Egina, etc.), and Egyptians began to use this Greek silver more and more often. In the 5th c., after the biggest Laurion mine was discovered between 490 and 480, most of the coins arriving in Egypt were Athenian, and the Egyptians got used to it, considering the Attic 'owls' their own currency. And when the flow dried after 404, they started to mint their own 'owls'. There were attempts to mint original Egyptian gold coins by the Pharaohs of the 30th Dynasty. Here is an extremely rare gold coin of Pharaoh Tachos or Teos (361-359 BC) : the types are imitated from Athens, even the legend is in Greek (ΤΑΩ). 8.27 g. Such a coin was probably minted to pay Greek mercenaries. Pharaoh Nektanebo (360-342 BC) also issued a gold coinage, with a hieroglyphic legend : [I]nub nefer[/I] : "pure gold". 8.33 g. The weight of these Egyptian gold coins corresponds roughly to 2 Attic drachms, they had adopted the Attic system. [ATTACH=full]1406029[/ATTACH] Hey, wait a minute ! Not my coins of course: all this is of the most extreme rarity. The Tachos gold didrachm is from the British Museum.[/QUOTE]
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