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!
Æ15
| Issuer | Siphnos |
|---|---|
| Year | 325 BC - 300 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 | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Hammered |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Eagle displayed in left-facing flight, its wings partially spread, clutching a writhing serpent in its beak. The composition fills the irregular flan dynamically, with the snake's coiling body rendered in low relief beneath the eagle. The abbreviated ethnic legend Σ ΙΦ (for Siphnos) appears in the field, serving as the civic identifier of this island polis. The style is consistent with late 4th century BC Cycladic bronze coinage. |
| 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 |
Siphnos, the Cycladic island famous for its once-immensely profitable silver and gold mines, had seen those deposits flood and fail by the classical period — ancient sources, including Herodotus, record the sanctuary at Delphi receiving a tithe from the island's mineral wealth before the mines were lost to the sea. By the late fourth century, the island was minting in bronze rather than the silver it had once exported freely, a practical reflection of diminished resources.
The BMC Greek and SNG Copenhagen specimens remain the primary reference points for attributing this type, with relatively few examples traceable to documented collections.