Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1/4 Litra
| Issuer | Tarentum |
|---|---|
| Year | 450 BC - 380 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
| Shape | Round (irregular) |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Prominent Greek letter tau (T) occupying the central field, with three pellets arranged around it: one above the crossbar and one to each side below. The design is bold and schematic, rendered in relief against a plain, unbordered field typical of archaic Tarentine fractional coinage. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Greek |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Tarentum's fractional silver coinage of this period was produced for a city at the height of its commercial confidence — the largest and wealthiest Greek colony in southern Italy, drawing wealth from the wool trade and the fisheries of the Gulf of Taranto. Fractions this small served real transactional needs in a busy port economy where larger denominations were impractical for daily exchange.
The Vlasto sequence 1189–1193 represents a tightly clustered die group, documented by R.S. Poole's earlier BMC work and refined substantially by Ravel. At 0.18 g, losses to even minor flan cracks are irreversible — survivors without edge damage are genuinely uncommon.