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Didrachm
| Issuer | Chios |
|---|---|
| Year | 435 BC - 425 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 7.77 g |
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| Obverse description | Sphinx seated right in three-quarter view, with outstretched wings rendered in sweeping, layered relief; the creature's leonine body curves gracefully, with a coiled tail visible to the lower right. The head is turned to face left, displaying archaic facial features with a diadem or fillet in the hair. A small amphora appears in the left field, serving as the civic badge of Chios. The design is executed in confident archaic Greek style within an irregularly shaped, slightly convex flan. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain, irregular |
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| Additional information |
Chios maintained a remarkable degree of commercial independence throughout the fifth century BC, operating its own mint and issuing silver on the Chian standard — a weight standard distinct from both the Attic and Aeginetan systems that dominated much of the Greek world. This placed Chian coinage in an awkward but commercially viable position, accepted across Aegean trade routes precisely because the island's wine and merchant shipping were indispensable to regional commerce.
Mavrogordato's 1918 study of Chian coinage remains the foundational die analysis for this series, and the 26a classification indicates a specific obverse die pairing documented within that sequence.