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  [Image]                              Item Sold At Auction #11
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                 Web Product ID: 2496
                 Estimate: $2,000.00
                 Final Sale Price: $1,375.00
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                 Denomination: Trite
                 Grade: VF
                 Reference: MMAG 72 (Rosen), 12 (same dies)




  Asia Minor. Milesian Standard. Circa 650-600 BC. EL Trite (4.67 gm). Geometric design
  consisting of an irregular square bisected by crossing lines / Incuse rectangle
  divided into twelve smaller compartments, the two largest of which contain pellets.
  MMAG 72 (Rosen), 12 (same dies, and listed as the second known specimen); cf. Traité
  pl. 1, 4 (hekte); cf. Svoronos pl. 16, 8 (hekte). VF, extremely rare. Estimate $2000.



  During the seventh century BC, two parallel monetary systems, the Milesian and the
  Phokaian, developed in Asia minor. Coin finds from this period are quite scarce, and
  most early electrum types are known from individual pieces, often seemingly unrelated
  typologically to other known examples of the same period. This coin, however, along
  with three related pieces of similar design, plainly make up a denomination set for a
  single issue, suggesting a more organized minting operation than previously thought
  for early electrum. If the simplicity of the obverse type can be assumed to reflect
  the most advanced technology of the day -- as seems likely considering the evident
  sophistication of the multi-denominational minting operation -- these coins must be
  among the very earliest to display a type. Equally interesting is the fact that at
  this early date the reverse punches seem to be at least as developed stylistically as
  the obverses. These engraved reverse punches suggest that in the experimental first
  phases of the coinage the reverse punch may have seemed equally suitable to bear a
  design as the obverse die, and it may have been only somewhat later that the standard
  use of obverse design and reverse typless punch was established.


Used by permission of CNG, www.historicalcoins.com