Interesting!
I'd love to see the estimated year of minting for these.
this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2025
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Let's see....
- Larissa, Thessaly: Early to mid 4th century BC. Reference is something like SNG Fitzwilliam 2394
- Akragas, Sicily: circa 409 BC. This is likely a signed coin of one of the true masters of classical coin art
- Actually a coin from Argolis: 330-270 BC. BCD Peloponnesos 1090
- Athens - one of the classics, not an expert but looks like the version from 403-365 BC
- Eretria - around 500-465 BC, I think. SNG Copenhagen 469
- Aegae - looks like 485-480 BC, De Luynes 1530
- Epehesos - if this is a tetradrachm it's likely 390-325 BC. NC 1880
- Corinth: These were struck for hundreds of years, but probably around 300 BC
- Massalia: Can't find this exact reverse, but looks like it's around 130 BC
Thank you! I don't think I'd have guessed that these coins were so EARLY.
No, it's hard to fathom 🙂 these are all exceptionally nice specimens too, surviving more than 2500 years with little to no damage.
It makes me wonder how much of the survival of these coins, in this great of condition, can be attributed more to circumstance/context in which the coins where kept, and how much of it can be attributed to craftsmanship.
These sorts of material artifacts surviving for this long really fires the imagination. Who pressed them? How where they made? How were they spent? Where were they spent?
It's just fascinating to try and imagine the world in which these coins might have been just a commonplace occurrence. Where people had them in their homes, in their hands.
Well, it's often a matter of the materials as well as the environment. Coins with a high silver or gold content survive well, and bronze coins survive well if the environment is favourable. Also, most of the coins in the picture were also valuable in ancient times; it makes sense that people would try to keep them safe, maybe hide them well in places where they weren't often exposed to modern chemicals. Or they're dropped in the desert where conditions are very favourable.
Ancient coins were struck, btw, or very rarely cast.
Sounds like you're about ready to start collecting ;)