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Onkia
| Issuer | Lipara |
|---|---|
| Year | 440 BC - 420 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Onkia (1⁄12) |
| 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 | 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 |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central raised pellet serving as the denominational mark of the onkia (one-twelfth of a litra), flanked on either side by the Greek letters lambda (Λ) and iota (Ι), forming the abbreviated civic ethnic of Lipara. The design is enclosed within a dotted border (grenetis) along the lower arc of the flan. The composition is spare and geometric, typical of Sicilian fractional bronze coinage of the period, with the pellet and letters boldly struck in high relief against a plain field. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Λ - I |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
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| Additional information |
Lipara — modern Lipari, largest of the Aeolian Islands — was a Cnidian Greek colony that operated with unusual autonomy in the western Mediterranean, funding itself partly through a state-organized system of piracy against Etruscan shipping. The city's bronze coinage, including this onkia, was among the earliest municipal bronze issues in the Greek west, predating the widespread adoption of bronze as a fiduciary currency on the mainland by several decades.
The CNS (Corpus Nummorum Siculorum) classification places this piece among a small, well-defined group. Liparan bronzes of this period are notoriously difficult to attribute with precision due to limited die studies.