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Hemidrachm
| Issuer | Cherronesos |
|---|---|
| Year | 386 BC - 338 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, Incuse |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Quadripartite incuse square divided by two crossing lines into four triangular compartments, a standard feature of early Thracian and Chersonesos silver coinage. In the upper right quarter, a pellet-in-annulet symbol (circular device with a central dot and a small projecting element resembling a trident or triple line) serves as a control mark. In the lower left quarter, an arrowhead or spearhead device is incused as a secondary control symbol. The remaining two quarters are plain and deeply recessed. These variable control marks in opposing quarters are characteristic of the long-running Chersonesos hemidrachm series and allow for die and issue identification. |
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| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Chersonese hemidrachms were struck in enormous quantities over decades to serve as the dominant trade currency of the Black Sea grain routes — a function so well understood in antiquity that they circulated far beyond Thrace, turning up in hoards from Egypt to Afghanistan. Their production was essentially industrial, with dies reused and recombined so freely that matching obverse and reverse pairs are the exception rather than the rule, which accounts for the bewildering proliferation of die varieties catalogued under BMC and Weber.
The "var." designations here are meaningful, not boilerplate — no two references agree on a complete die census for this type.