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!
Myshemihekte
| Issuer | Phokaia |
|---|---|
| Year | 625 BC - 522 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 | Forepart of a seal (phoke) facing right in low relief, rendered in the archaic style characteristic of early Phokaian electrum coinage. The animal's distinctive rounded head is prominently depicted with a large globular eye in high relief dominating the upper field. The body is schematically rendered in the lower portion of the flan, with the natural irregularity of the hammered planchet framing the device. |
|---|---|
| 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 was among the earliest Greek cities to strike electrum coinage, and the myshemihekte — one-sixth of a hekte — sits at the bottom of a denomination ladder designed for a mercantile economy that needed fractional values small enough for daily transactions. The Phokaians were aggressive colonizers and traders whose routes stretched from the Black Sea to Massalia (modern Marseille), and small electrum fractions likely circulated across that entire network.
The natural electrum used by Phokaia had a gold content that varied by source, making ancient weight standards an imprecise but accepted convention among trading partners.