Aegina was the first Greek polis to strike silver coinage, beginning in the mid-seventh century BC, and the Aeginetan stater became the dominant trade currency across the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean for well over a century. The weight standard it established — roughly 12.2 grams to the stater — was adopted across the Peloponnese and much of mainland Greece, making it effectively the first international monetary standard in the Greek world.
This later phase of issue, from 404 BC onward, follows Athens' destruction of Aeginetan power and the expulsion of its population in 431 BC. The Aeginetans were eventually permitted to return, and coinage resumed — but the polis never recovered its commercial dominance. BMC Greek 189 falls within the series attributed to this restoration period.
Aegina was the first Greek polis to strike silver coinage, beginning in the mid-seventh century BC, and the Aeginetan stater became the dominant trade currency across the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean for well over a century. The weight standard it established — roughly 12.2 grams to the stater — was adopted across the Peloponnese and much of mainland Greece, making it effectively the first international monetary standard in the Greek world.
This later phase of issue, from 404 BC onward, follows Athens' destruction of Aeginetan power and the expulsion of its population in 431 BC. The Aeginetans were eventually permitted to return, and coinage resumed — but the polis never recovered its commercial dominance. BMC Greek 189 falls within the series attributed to this restoration period.