DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4945#0099
88 The Archaic Artemisia of Ephesus.
Sect. IV.—THE COIN-TYPES.
Class I.—Time of Gyges, 687-652 i;.c. (?)
Primitive issues.
Of the 8y coins above described, Nos. 1-11 are specimens of extremely
early date. They comprise some of the most primitive essays in the
art, or rather craft, of striking, while still in a hot condition, with a
roughened punch, small bullets of electrum, previously cast and adjusted
with care to the required weights, 6ths, 8ths, i2ths, 24ths, 48ths, or 96ths
of the stater.
Of the eleven specimens of this kind in the present find, Nos. 2, 6, 9,
10, and 11 can only be described as mere bullets of electrum with a rude
punch-mark on the reverse. No. 7 is a flat J?a?i, plain on both sides, and
without a punch-mark. The rest show on the obverse nothing but rough
hatchings or striations indicating that the dies on which the lumps of metal
were placed had been intentionally roughened in order to keep the pieces
from slipping while the punch (single, double, or triple, according to the
size of the lump of metal) was being hammered into the upper surface, or
' reverse.'
The smallest coins of this early period may be regarded rather as money-
changers' make-weights than as coins commonly current by tale, for, to be
generally acceptable as current from hand to hand, a piece of metal must
always have been impressed with some recognisable stamp or signet on the
part of the issuing authority as a guarantee of value, and must also have been
large enough to be easily handled.
With the exception of Nos. I—11, above described, all the other coins in
the present find bear a recognisable signet or type of this nature.
I have here classified them according to these types, placing first in
chronological order those which in fabric and style seem to be the most
archaic. The arbitrary divisions according to the reigns of the Lydian kings
are more or less conjectural, though there is reason to think that the rude and
unengraved specimens belong, at the very latest, to the reign of Gyges
(687-652 B.C.), and that none of the coins struck from dies engraved with
animal types in this hoard are subsequent to the reign of Alyattes, who died in
561 B.C., but there is nothing to prove that they may not have been buried
at a somewhat later date.
Sect. IV.—THE COIN-TYPES.
Class I.—Time of Gyges, 687-652 i;.c. (?)
Primitive issues.
Of the 8y coins above described, Nos. 1-11 are specimens of extremely
early date. They comprise some of the most primitive essays in the
art, or rather craft, of striking, while still in a hot condition, with a
roughened punch, small bullets of electrum, previously cast and adjusted
with care to the required weights, 6ths, 8ths, i2ths, 24ths, 48ths, or 96ths
of the stater.
Of the eleven specimens of this kind in the present find, Nos. 2, 6, 9,
10, and 11 can only be described as mere bullets of electrum with a rude
punch-mark on the reverse. No. 7 is a flat J?a?i, plain on both sides, and
without a punch-mark. The rest show on the obverse nothing but rough
hatchings or striations indicating that the dies on which the lumps of metal
were placed had been intentionally roughened in order to keep the pieces
from slipping while the punch (single, double, or triple, according to the
size of the lump of metal) was being hammered into the upper surface, or
' reverse.'
The smallest coins of this early period may be regarded rather as money-
changers' make-weights than as coins commonly current by tale, for, to be
generally acceptable as current from hand to hand, a piece of metal must
always have been impressed with some recognisable stamp or signet on the
part of the issuing authority as a guarantee of value, and must also have been
large enough to be easily handled.
With the exception of Nos. I—11, above described, all the other coins in
the present find bear a recognisable signet or type of this nature.
I have here classified them according to these types, placing first in
chronological order those which in fabric and style seem to be the most
archaic. The arbitrary divisions according to the reigns of the Lydian kings
are more or less conjectural, though there is reason to think that the rude and
unengraved specimens belong, at the very latest, to the reign of Gyges
(687-652 B.C.), and that none of the coins struck from dies engraved with
animal types in this hoard are subsequent to the reign of Alyattes, who died in
561 B.C., but there is nothing to prove that they may not have been buried
at a somewhat later date.