Ancient Greek Coins

The first Ancient Greek Coins appeared in Aegina around 600 B.C. and were amongst the first coins ever minted by a western civilization. Their design tells the story of a fascinating civilisation. A society that minted coins to celebrate outstanding individuals, gods, and religious practices, as well as ancient international relations. Examples are the Alexander the Great coins the Athenian Owl, and the Obol, just to name a few.

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  • Denomination: Teradrachm or Hemidrachm or Trihemiobol

Attica, Athens. Ca. 431-393 B.C. AR Tetradrachm. AOE. Extremely Fine + Floating Frame Display

These beautiful silver Tetradrachms of Athens are one of the most important and iconic coins ever struck. They were made from the silver mined at Laurion near Athens in the 5th century BC, making them around 2500 years, old and were known for their fineness of silver and standard weight so were accepted all over the known world at the time. The wonderful high-relief design has the helmeted head of the goddess Athena on one side and on the reverse, the eponymous owl of Athens with a sprig of olive above to signify Athens's trade in olive oil, with ‘AΘE’ beside meaning ‘of the Athenians’. The coins on offer are in Extremely Fine condition, a very high grade for an ancient coin, and each coin comes in a ‘floating frame’ to showcase these magnificent coins together with a certificate of authenticity. True ancient works of art in superb condition. Only a very limited number are available. Photograph is representative of coin supplied but all coins available are at least the grade illustrated (Extremely Fine).
£1,350.00

Ionia, Ephesos. 82-81 B.C. AR Cistophoric Tetradrachm.

Ionia, Ephesos. 82-81 B.C. AR Cistophoric Tetradrachm. Serpent emerging from cista mystica; all within ivy wreath / Two serpents entwined around bow & bowcase, torch right field. Very Fine. Struck as part of a closed monetary system, they weighed three Drachma but were valued at four.
£190.00

Lampsakos Trihemiobol 5th Century B.C.

Lampsakos (Latinised as Lampsacus) was an ancient Greek city on the Eastern side of the Hellespont, founded in the 7th Century B.C. It grew rich controlling trade through this corridor so during the 6th-4th centuries B.C. It was conquered by the Lydians, then Persians, then Athenians, Spartans, and finally Persia again. Captured in the 330s B.C. by Alexander the Great he threatened destruction on them as he thought them pro-Persian. They sent Anaximenes of Lampsakos who heard Alexander had sworn to do the opposite they asked, so he said, ‘Please majesty: enslave the women and children of Lampsakos, burn their temples, and raze the city to the ground.’ Alexander was tricked and reluctantly pardoned the people of Lampsakos. It prospered for the rest of antiquity. We have a little group of small silver coins from this city dating between 500-450 B.C. They have the early, archaic style showing a female Janiform (one face forward, one backward) head on the obverse with Athena in a Corinthian helmet on the reverse. They are about 2500 years old, grade About Very Fine and the first to order will get the best centred examples! At this price, we do not expect them to stay long.
£90.00

Thrace, Cherronesos Hemidrachm Good Fine

These silver coins come from the Greek colony of Cherronesos, on the present-day Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. They were issued over the period from 400-350 B.C. to support trade with cities along the coast of the Black Sea. They feature the forepart of a lion on the obverse and on the reverse a four-part incuse square with various mintmark symbols. A striking coin and now nearly 2400 years old!
£60.00

What were Ancient Greek Coins Called?

The coins of Ancient Greece, as well as modern-day Greece pre-euro, were called Drachma. The denominations used in the old city-states of Greece, differ from city-state to city-state (polis) and derive from the weights for gold and silver merchants used to trade goods. To make matters worse, the weights used also differed from era to era. And as you may know, their coinage went through 4 different periods: the Archaic, the Classical, the Hellenistic, and the Roman. So here too, there are substantial differences coin collectors need to be aware of.

So in the name of keeping things simple for newbie coin collectors, we are going to use the Attic standard to answer this question. As it was the most popular weight standard in the Greek world, due to the power and influence of Athens across the ancient world.  In this standard, the Drachm is the base, divided by obols with a sixth of the value.

Starting from largest to smallest, the denominations of Greek coins were as follows:

  • Dekadrachm – ratio of 10
  • Tetradrachm – ratio of 4
  • the Drachm – ratio 1
  • Tetrobol – ratio of 2/3
  • Triobol/Hemidrachm – ratio of 1/2
  • Diobol – ratio of 1/3
  • Trihemiobol – ratio of 1/4
  • Obol – ratio of 1/6
  • Tritartemorion  – ratio of 1/8
  • Hemiobol – ratio of 1/12
  • Trihemitartemorion – ratio of 1/16
  • Tetartemorion –  ratio of 1/24

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