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!
Stater
| Issuer | Karthaia |
|---|---|
| Year | 540 BC - 515 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 | 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) | Gillet#919 |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Deeply recessed incuse square divided into four triangular compartments by two diagonal lines crossing at the centre, creating a distinctive windmill or pinwheel pattern typical of early Archaic Greek monetary convention. The sunken relief is sharply struck, with each triangular section exhibiting alternating raised and depressed surfaces. The surrounding flan is plain and uninscribed. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | ND (540 BC - 515 BC) |
| Additional information |
Karthaia was one of four poleis on the island of Keos, and among the earliest Aegean island mints to strike silver coinage. This stater dates to the archaic period, when Keos sat astride lucrative trade routes between Athens and the Cyclades. The island's principal export — a red dye derived from the madder plant — generated enough commercial wealth to justify a local silver coinage, likely produced to facilitate transactions with Attic and Corinthian merchants rather than for civic prestige alone.
Gillet 919 is among the scarcer documented die combinations for this type.