NEWPS: The Smallest Electrum
SmEagle1795
Posts: 2,201 ✭✭✭✭✭
I've been working on fleshing out my "denomination set" of early electrum. I have several of these denominations represented in multiple examples now (as there were particular types I was looking to acquire) but this is a surprisingly tough set to put together, especially when looking for the smallest coins.
I still am missing the hemi and full stater, the latter of which being one of the more common denominations. I just haven't found the "right" coin yet but am still searching.
The farthest left coin is my smallest, a 1/192 electrum stater, weighing 0.07 grams. It's a die match to one CNG sold a few years ago as a new discovery piece, making mine the second or third known, and completing my denomination set up to a trite.
The diameter of these coins is extremely small but the truly incredible attribute is their weight, with the 1/192 and 1/96 being imperceptible and the 1/48th just barely registering on my palm.
And their standalone images, taken with my camera (the above were taken with my phone):
1/192:
1/96:
1/48:
1/24:
1/6:
1/3:
Post your small electrum!
I still am missing the hemi and full stater, the latter of which being one of the more common denominations. I just haven't found the "right" coin yet but am still searching.
The farthest left coin is my smallest, a 1/192 electrum stater, weighing 0.07 grams. It's a die match to one CNG sold a few years ago as a new discovery piece, making mine the second or third known, and completing my denomination set up to a trite.
The diameter of these coins is extremely small but the truly incredible attribute is their weight, with the 1/192 and 1/96 being imperceptible and the 1/48th just barely registering on my palm.
And their standalone images, taken with my camera (the above were taken with my phone):
1/192:
1/96:
1/48:
1/24:
1/6:
1/3:
Post your small electrum!
Learn about our world's shared history told through the first millennium of coinage: Colosseo Collection
7
Comments
and a denom set of electrums, good lord that is awesome
You could get one of those hollowed out compartment coins and keep them all inside of it!
I don't know much about these, were they all circulating at approximately the same time?
TalerUniverse.com is a curated numismatic project dedicated to the silver talers, crowns, and medals of the Habsburg Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, spanning the 16th–18th centuries. The collection emphasizes historically significant issues, rare mint varieties, and high-grade NGC/PCGS examples, presented with detailed historical context, scholarly references, and high-resolution photography. TalerUniverse aims to serve both as a private collection showcase and a growing reference resource for collectors, researchers, and students of early-modern European coinage.
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
--Severian the Lame
The first one looks like my dental crown though...
How does one get a hater to stop hating?
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- These coins are indeed all roughly contemporary, with the helmet 1/24th stater the "youngest", all between 650-550BC.
- They were generally found in groups, so the smallest among them would still be seen as a coin. I imagine many of them were simply dropped and lost to the ground, or eventually melted assuming it was just a very small fleck of gold.
- It is difficult to correlate ancient purchasing power but the largest coin, a trite, is generally thought to have been worth about a month's salary, although some place it higher (up to about 10 sheep's worth). If it's a month, and a month is approximately $2000, the ancient value of the smallest would be about $30, still a substantial sum. These coins were generally not used for day-to-day transactions because of the significant value but rather were used to pay larger debts (accumulated by maintaining a tab at businesses) and for governmental transactions.
Thanks again!
Collector since 1976. On the CU forums here since 2001.
<< <i>SmEagle, that is an impressive collection! Nice work on putting together a lovely type set. Good luck on your remaining pieces! >>
How they could ever manage to make artwork from something so tiny, without modern tools, baffles me.
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Hey @SmEagle1795 ! Hey buddy!
Did you ever complete this series?
I might have been throwing back a few cold ones when I bid on this monster 1/24th stater.
But I thought it looked ridiculous / cool (or ridiculously cool) in the hand-auguer slab
--Severian the Lame
Nice Weiss. Real nice.
@SmEagle1795 that's so impressive.
These little coins are remarkable. They always remind me of this and it make me smile
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Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
That's a great piece, @Weiss ! There's a ton of history wrapped up in these tiny electrum molar fillings. I somehow have still not managed to buy a hemi-stater but I have added a couple full staters in the intervening years since my original post. So, the set is larger but still incomplete:
This is an electrum stater of Lampsakos, found in Smyrna in 1874 and published a number of times starting in 1907:
OMG @SmEagle1795. That is a stunner. The detail is extraordinary. And the color, too. What an absolutely gem of a coin.
--Severian the Lame
Cool thread!
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The comparison shots tell it all. Thanks for sharing 👍.
A very interesting and educational thread. Thanks for posting!
no words - really beautiful set, and want to start seeking out electrum pieces the more I see & learn about them