Greek Bronze Coin – Money for Daily Life
Who does not know the custom to differentiate between Sunday and working-day dresses? Something similar exits with money. For example in ancient Greece: The bronze coins were kind of working-day cash with which one went to the market. The large silver coins, however, were used for more important business transactions. He who thinks that these were also more beautiful, is mistaken. The small coins were minted just as carefully as the prestige coinages.
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Sarmatia, Olbia, Bronze Dolphin, c. 480 BC
Denomination: Dolphin Coin Mint Authority: City of Olbia Mint: Olbia Year of Issue: -480 Weight (g): 4.23 Diameter (mm): 45.0 Material: Bronze Owner: Sunflower Foundation
This small dolphin is an interesting transition between standardized coin and bronze ingot. It weighs 4.23 grams, which corresponded to the coin standard of the Athenian drachm. The inscription on the reverse, APIXO, gives the name of the issuing authority; it is this declaration that turns the ingot into a coin.
The dolphin originated from Olbia, an ancient city on the mouth of the River Bug and on the coast of the Black Sea. Dolphins were very frequent in these waters. They liked to accompany seagoing vessels over long distances, which is why they became symbols of maritime transportation and trade. The dolphin coins of Sarmatia expressed this in a very picturesque manner.
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Sicily, Acragas, Cast Onkia, c. 450 BC
Denomination: Onkia Mint Authority: City of Acragas Mint: Acragas (Agrigento) Year of Issue: -450 Weight (g): 4.56 Diameter (mm): 20.0 Material: Bronze Owner: Sunflower Foundation
The first bronze coins of Sicily were issued in Acragas. Initially they were not minted but cast, and did not yet have the typical round coin shape. The smallest denomination took an oval form, while the larger units were cone-shaped. It is not entirely clear whether the cast Acragas items were indeed circulating coins, or were rather used as weights. This specimen is an onkia, the twelfth part of a whole. The onkia was a weight standard as well as a coin unit.
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Sicily, Leontinoi, Tetras (1/4 Litra), 405-402 BC
Denomination: Tetras (1/4 Litra) Mint Authority: City of Leontinoi Mint: Leontinoi (Lentini) Year of Issue: -405 Weight (g): 2.02 Diameter (mm): 14.0 Material: Bronze Owner: Sunflower Foundation
The tetras was a small Italic-Sicilian minor coin worth 1/4 of a litra. The value was indicated by three pellets on the reverse – for 1 litra equaled 12 onkiae, and a tetras thus held 3 onkiae.
Our litra bears the head of the god Apollo wearing a laurel wreath on the obverse. The reverse shows a tripod with three handles, and a lyre between the tripods legs. On each side a barleycorn is depicted; beneath are the three pellets of value.
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Sicily, Himera, Hemilitra (1/2 Litra), c. 400 BC
Denomination: Hemilitra (1/2 Litra) Mint Authority: City of Himera Mint: Himera Year of Issue: -400 Weight (g): 1.6 Diameter (mm): 13.0 Material: Bronze Owner: Sunflower Foundation
The obverse of the coin depicts the head of the nymph Himera, while the reverse shows a prawn. The six pellets on the reverse indicate the coin's value. At that time, the Himerans calculated in the duodecimal system: twelve onkiae equaled a litra, a very popular small silver coin. Our coin was worth six onkiae, half a litra thus, and was therefore called hemilitra.
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Bosporan Kingdom, Undefined Ruler, Bronze Unit (AE), 4th Century BC, Panticapaeum
Denomination: AE (Bronze Unit) Mint Authority: Bosporan Kingdom Mint: Panticapaeum (Kerch) Year of Issue: -400 Weight (g): 7.03 Diameter (mm): 22.0 Material: Bronze Owner: Sunflower Foundation
The city of Panticapaeum, founded around the mid-6th century BC on the strait between the Black See and the Sea of Azov, controlled the narrow passage between the two waters and thus soon became the most important port for trade between the Crimean and south Russia and the Aegean.
Coins had been minted in Panticapaeum already in the 5th century. They are evidence of the city's economic prosperity, especially since the 4th century. This little bronze coin depicts on the obverse the head of Pan, punning on the city's name. The griffin on the reverse is the fabulous monster that was reputed to guard the sources of gold in the distant Ural or Altai Mountains.
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Persian Empire, Satrapy of Lydia and Ionia, Spithridates († c. 334 BC), Small Bronze Coin, Kyme
Denomination: Small Bronze Mint Authority: Satrap Spithridates Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: -340 Weight (g): 1.49 Diameter (mm): 11.0 Material: Bronze Owner: Sunflower Foundation
This small bronze is an issue of Spithridates, the satrap of Lydia and Ionia. Spithridates had himself portrayed by a Greek engraver; we make out his tiara, a typical Persian headgear resembling a bag from leather, of which the upper part was folded upward. The reverse of the coin depicts the prosoma of a horse and a monogram.
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