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!
Hemiobol
| Issuer | Athens |
|---|---|
| Year | 454 BC - 404 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 | 0.36 g |
| 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 | Helmeted head of Athena facing right, wearing a crested Attic helmet adorned with a row of olive leaves along the bowl. The goddess is rendered in archaic style with a large almond-shaped eye shown in frontal view despite the profile orientation, a characteristic convention of Athenian coinage of this period. The ear is visible beneath the helmet cheek-piece, and the hair falls in a single curl at the nape of the neck. The flan is small and irregularly shaped, as typical of fractional silver issues from the Athens mint. |
|---|---|
| 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 |
Athens struck these fractional coins throughout the period of Delian League dominance, when Athenian silver — backed by the Laurion mines — effectively functioned as the reserve currency of the Aegean. The League's treasury was transferred from Delos to Athens in 454 BC, the opening date of this issue, a move that gave Athens direct control over allied tribute and the bullion flows that fed the mint.
At 0.36 g, these pieces were struck for small daily transactions that larger denominations couldn't serve. Production likely ceased with the city's surrender to Sparta in 404 BC and the dismantling of the empire that had sustained such intensive minting.