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!
Hekte
| Issuer | Phokaia |
|---|---|
| Year | 478 BC - 387 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Drachm |
| 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 | A stag rendered in a naturalistic archaic style, depicted in a crouching posture facing left, with legs folded beneath the body and the head turned slightly upward, the antlers prominently displayed at the upper field. A small seal, the civic badge of Phokaia, appears in the upper left field above the stag's back, serving as the city's characteristic iconographic identifier. The design is executed in high relief with confident, vigorous engraving typical of Phokaian electrum coinage. The flan is slightly irregular and convex, consistent with early electrum hekte production. There are no inscriptions or legends on the obverse. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Phokaia's electrum hektai were produced under a formal minting agreement shared with Mytilene on Lesbos — the two cities alternating annual issues, a monetary arrangement documented as early as the fifth century and codified in a surviving treaty fragment. Phokaia's share of that agreement ran until the city fell to Persian control in 387 BC, which is precisely what closes the production window for this type.
Bodenstedt 57 falls within the mature phase of the series. The natural electrum used by Phokaia had a gold-to-silver ratio that fluctuated with each batch, creating measurable variation in specific gravity across specimens — a persistent headache for modern auction house assayers.