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!
Tetradrachm
| Issuer | Mende |
|---|---|
| Year | 430 BC - 423 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| 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) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A stylized grapevine bearing five prominent grape clusters is depicted within a shallow incuse square frame, the vine rising from a central trunk that branches symmetrically to left and right. The legend ΜΕΝΔΑΙΟΝ is distributed in large archaic Greek letters around the four sides of the square frame, one or two letters per side, filling the field outside the inner border. The overall design reflects the city's fame as a renowned wine-producing center of the Chalcidice. The incuse treatment and bold lettering are characteristic of early to mid-Classical Macedonian regional coinage. |
| 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 |
Mende, a colony of Eretria on the Chalcidice peninsula, was among the most prolific wine exporters in the Aegean world, and its coinage circulated widely as a direct consequence of that trade. The dating of this issue to the 420s BC places it squarely within the period of Athenian military pressure on the Chalcidice — Mende briefly defected to Brasidas in 423 BC before being retaken by Nicias, an event that almost certainly disrupted civic minting.
The Jameson and Gulbenkian references are among the most authoritative die-study anchors for this series, and the convergence of five major references on a single type signals a well-documented specimen rather than a peripheral variety.