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Hemidrachm

Issuer Cherronesos
Year 386 BC - 338 BC
Type Standard circulation coin
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Obverse description Forepart of a lion to right, head turned back to left in the characteristic Cherronesian style, the mane rendered in bold, finely striated relief with a pronounced volute curl at the chest. The musculature of the forequarters is rendered with considerable naturalistic detail, and the open jaws display a curled tongue. The figure occupies the full width of the flan, with no legend or inscription in the field.
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Mintage ND (386 BC - 338 BC)
Additional information

Chersonesos, the Thracian peninsula city, produced these hemidrachms in enormous quantities over roughly five decades, making them one of the most widely circulated fractional silver coinages in the entire Aegean trade network. Their ubiquity in hoards from Asia Minor to the Black Sea littoral suggests they functioned almost as a regional trade currency well beyond their city of issue.

The type is notorious among die students for its extraordinary variety — no two obverses appear to share identical incuse punch configurations, implying continuous die production across multiple generations of engravers without a standardizing template.

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