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1/3 Stater
| Issuer | Uncertain Ionian city |
|---|---|
| Year | 600 BC - 550 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | ⅓ Stater |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Plain, uninscribed field bearing a quadripartite incuse linear square, formed by two intersecting lines dividing the surface into four roughly equal recessed compartments. The overall design is purely geometric, with no figurative imagery or legend, consistent with the earliest archaic coinage conventions of the eastern Greek world. The flan is irregular and convex, typical of hand-struck electrum coinage of the period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Mintage | ND (600 BC - 550 BC) |
| Additional information |
The early electrum coinage of Ionia presents one of numismatics' most contested attribution problems — no scholarly consensus exists on whether these pieces were issued by individual city-states, by Lydian commercial interests, or through some cooperative mercantile arrangement. The natural alloy of gold and silver found in the Pactolus River, which runs through Lydia, made standardized composition essentially impossible, and buyers in trade almost certainly weighed rather than trusted these pieces.
GCV 3460 groups several stylistically distinct types under a single number, which understates the attribution difficulty considerably.