1⁄48 Stater

Among the earliest coined money ever produced, these fractional electrum pieces from the Ionian coastal cities predate any standardized monetary authority — they were likely issued by individual merchant groups or civic bodies whose identities are now irrecoverable. At 1/48th of a stater, the denomination served everyday small transactions at a moment when coinage itself was barely a generation old. The natural electrum alloy, sourced from Lydian river deposits, varied in gold-to-silver ratio from piece to piece, meaning no two coins of this type were strictly equivalent in intrinsic value.