Aegina's bronze coinage from this period is historically awkward: the island had been a silver-minting powerhouse for over a century, with its "turtle" staters among the earliest and most widely circulated coins in the Greek world. The shift to bronze in the early fourth century reflects the economic disruption following Athens' expulsion of the Aeginetan population in 431 BC and the island's gradual demographic recovery under Spartan patronage after 404 BC.
Bronze at Aegina was never prestigious. These small issues circulated locally, filling the gap that fractional silver had once occupied.
Aegina's bronze coinage from this period is historically awkward: the island had been a silver-minting powerhouse for over a century, with its "turtle" staters among the earliest and most widely circulated coins in the Greek world. The shift to bronze in the early fourth century reflects the economic disruption following Athens' expulsion of the Aeginetan population in 431 BC and the island's gradual demographic recovery under Spartan patronage after 404 BC.
Bronze at Aegina was never prestigious. These small issues circulated locally, filling the gap that fractional silver had once occupied.