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 | Uncertain Lesbos city |
|---|---|
| Year | 525 BC - 475 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) | BMC Greek#6, GCV#3484 |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Incuse square punch of quadripartite design, divided by a raised cross into four recessed compartments, each of roughly equal size, characteristic of the mill-sail or windmill incuse type commonly employed on early Archaic Greek coinage. The central raised intersection of the cross forms a small boss. The square incuse is set within a broad, slightly convex, and granular field typical of hammered billon fabric of this period. No legend or additional device is present. |
| 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 (525 BC - 475 BC) |
| Additional information |
Lesbos operated an unusual monetary arrangement in the archaic period: several cities on the island — Mytilene, Methymna, and others — struck electrum and billon coinage cooperatively or in parallel, which is why attribution to a single polis remains impossible for many specimens. The billon fabric itself is distinctive for the region, leaning lower in gold content than the electrum issues Mytilene would later make famous.
The half-century window of this issue overlaps the Persian consolidation of Aegean coastal control under Darius I, when Lesbian cities navigated tributary obligations while maintaining local mint activity.