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!
Gold Diobol
| Issuer | Athens |
|---|---|
| Year | 407 BC - 406 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| 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 | 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Athens |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Athens struck gold coinage only under extreme fiscal duress, and this diobol belongs to an emergency series produced when the city melted down the gold Nike dedications from the Acropolis to fund the fleet during the final, desperate phase of the Peloponnesian War. The decision followed the catastrophic Sicilian Expedition and years of sustained Spartan pressure on Attica. Silver from Laurion was increasingly inaccessible, and the treasury was effectively bare.
The series was short-lived by necessity — once the crisis passed or the dedicated metal was exhausted, Athens reverted to silver. These gold fractions circulated briefly and under duress, which partly explains their rarity today.