My smallest coin, from Erythrai, proud of its millstones

[Pellinore]

Maybe an unusual way to present a coin, but it shows clearly the pinpoint-like tininess and clear detail of my smallest coin, noted as a silver 1/96 stater or tetartemorion (that would be 1/4 of an obol, but I might be erring). It is from Erythrai (though some think it might be Miletos, which is 100 km to the south). Erythrai (or Erythrae) was always a small polis, at the Anatolian coast opposite the island Chios. It dates from 520-480 BC, before the city joined the Delian League, with Athens and against the Peloponnesos under Sparta.

The obverse of this silver coin shows a whirl, the reverse a rosette. A whirlpool, naturally, was an interesting subject for seafaring folks like the Greeks. But the city of Erythrai apparently was famous for its millstones, so this might be a depiction of a product of which it was proud.

The diameter is 4 mm, the weight .12 gr.

-- Paul

[THCoins]

Cute little button !

Anthony

[mrbadexample]

Lovely. Be careful where you put it!

[Quant.Geek]

That is almost twice as big as my recent small coin 

Ionia, Kolophon: Anonymous (ca. 530-500 BCE) AR Twelfth Stater (Kim & Kroll p. 73; SNG Kayhan 342; SNG von Aulock 1808–9; SNG Berry 1039)

Obv: Archaic head left
Rev: Rough incuse square
Wgt: 0.75 g
Size: 7mm

[Pellinore]

That is almost twice as big as my recent small coin 

Ionia, Kolophon: Anonymous (ca. 530-500 BCE) AR Twelfth Stater (Kim & Kroll p. 73; SNG Kayhan 342; SNG von Aulock 1808–9; SNG Berry 1039)

Obv: Archaic head left
Rev: Rough incuse square
Wgt: 0.75 g
Size: 7mm

No, your single coin buys eight of mine: 1/12 stater is 8 times 1/96 stater. Hard to imagine!

-- Paul

[Finn235]

Wow! Super coin.

I have always been fascinated that:
1) People were actually able to use these every day as money without losing them
2) When they were lost, that anyone was ever able to find them again! At this size, I don't think I would be able to sort them from small pebbles in the dirt.

Nice pick-up.

[redwine]

It's a little beauty! 
Could it be a hemi-tetartemorion?

[Pellinore]

Could be. But what about the weight standards?
-- Paul

[redwine]

According to this site https://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/history_weight/graehemitetartemorion.html?u=graehemitetartemorion&v=1 it should be 0.1313g
But it does say that each city state may have had its own standard.

[Pellinore]

I now found this little coin. Is it a tetartemorion from Colophon, late 6th cent. BC, like Quant.Geek's? With the Apollo head on the obverse and an incuse square on the reverse. The diameter is 6 mm, the weight 0.25 gr.
What I like about it is, that the form of the coin follows the form of the face of Apollo - nose and mouth. I've a few of these head-form planchets, very attractive.

-- Paul

 

[Figleaf]

Congratulations, Pellinore. I once saw a complete series of Greek denominations. Amazing handwork. The series ended with a tetradrachme, but I would end it with a Daric, since they circulated in quantity in classical Greece.

Peter

[Pellinore]

Here are some more candidates for this series. On the pictures you see my three smallest coins, the already mentioned tetartemorion from Erythrae and two fractional sigloi. One, classified as an 1/32th siglos, is from the regular Achaemenid series with kneel-running king on one side and an incuse on the other. The second shows a nice head and on the other side, less clear, the kneel-running king - apparently it's from an unknown mint in Cilicia. They are 5 mm and weigh respectively 0.17 and 0.18 gr. Because the iphone in daylight doesn't show much detail, I'm adding the seller's pics for the two minisigloi.

-- Paul

[Figleaf]

If these coins were isolated finds, that must have been a really good metal detector

Peter