My favourite are the ptolemy bronze coins. They are large and very robust. Worth to make a video as the daily pocket money of Egyptian/Greek residents ;)
It's amazing those mint workers were able to engrave dies for a pieces of silver smaller than a pinky nail. Coins like that must have been easy to strike individually, but daunting to strike in vast quantities... the gods forbid anybody dropped one in their daily travels...
"It was 3 days of work." Well, most people didn't live in the cities, if they went shopping, I bet they bought a little more than a days worth of stuff in their transactions. Of course it makes buying small amounts of stuff harder, but there you could use barter with different things. Those Lydian coins are pretty bulky, wonder if those wore out faster.
Very interesting lesson. I have some bronze coins of Greek cities (Leontioi, Metapontion, Termessos, Gela, Ephesos, Pantikapaion, Philomelion, Colophon...) and I have to admire their design. Even small denominations are works of art.
I seem to recall that the Greeks kept their coins in their mouths when out shopping. Hard to believe, but that's what I was taught in my college course text book or supplemental text.
What gold and silver shills fail to mention is copper and bronze have a value . Enough coins to make a spear tip would have about the value of a spear tip . These metals did not lay on the ground free for anyone to puck up. .
I mean they kind of do lie on the ground you just might not own the land and you more than likely wouldn't know how to extract those metals from the ground or how to purify them. I know that I don't, but I do know that they come from the ground😂
@Osama_Zyn_Laden l know how to extract gold and silver. I use the point of my no value bronze spear tip . 🤣 l also don't care whose land l am on. A spear tip is 9/10s of the law.
By any chance, do you know what was used in the eastern half of the Roman Empire? it’s my understanding that the eastern half in particular had a lot of Greek influence. I wonder if that included Greek coins in addition to the denarius.
Take a look at my video on "Roman Provincial Coinage" for the answer to that :) Yes, the Romans kept lots of the previously established monetary standards in place.
Am I correct in assuming that ancient peoples kept their "small change" in coin purses? That would probably be more secure than modern pockets, but I'll bet a lot of these tiny coins were still lost!
The urge to return to precious metals and just carry around a sack full of tiny coins. Fiat currencies are a scam, and they've been enslaving mankind for over a hundred years.
There was a reasonably high urban population for ancient times, maybe up to 30%. These people mostly used coins. As for the rural population, it depended on how isolated they were and if they could access coins. Both the Greeks and the Romans were surprisingly monetized.
Basically you can't trust anyone anymore. The Chinese CAN be such good forgers that very respectable auction houses will only give a 5 year warranty of authenticity. Thus is not enough time to find the forger if ever and prove they are fakes so you can get a refund. To get past testing of the metal for ancient impurities they smelt no value coins to make new ones.
The coin comes from a pretty reliable source (Kuenker). At some point it must have had a layer of horn silver which has since then been cleaned, leaving the roughness on the surface you very reasonably point out. I think the coin is good, just a bit corroded :)
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Cool channel my friend..
every time I watch your videos I like to play Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Love the coins and history!
Thanks leo.brillant 😊
My favourite are the ptolemy bronze coins. They are large and very robust. Worth to make a video as the daily pocket money of Egyptian/Greek residents ;)
These are super cool, I've shown a few in some previous videos, but I'll certainly explore the topic in the future :)
@@ClassicalNumismaticsPLEASE DO that would be an amazing episode
Thank You very much for This new video !! 😊
It's amazing those mint workers were able to engrave dies for a pieces of silver smaller than a pinky nail. Coins like that must have been easy to strike individually, but daunting to strike in vast quantities... the gods forbid anybody dropped one in their daily travels...
Awesome! I find fractional currency just as impressive as large Tetradrachm; it’s incredible that they crammed so much detail on such a small flan
Thank you
Great video, thanks!
Very neat! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed it. Have you got any fractional greek coins yourself?
very nice tiny pieces
"It was 3 days of work." Well, most people didn't live in the cities, if they went shopping, I bet they bought a little more than a days worth of stuff in their transactions. Of course it makes buying small amounts of stuff harder, but there you could use barter with different things. Those Lydian coins are pretty bulky, wonder if those wore out faster.
Cool vid. Leo
Very cool
Very interesting lesson. I have some bronze coins of Greek cities (Leontioi, Metapontion, Termessos, Gela, Ephesos, Pantikapaion, Philomelion, Colophon...) and I have to admire their design. Even small denominations are works of art.
Sweet hisyory lessons..
Hello! Ive been watching ur vid for long time, Great video! I want to collect ancient coins like you.
Thank you! Its a very fun hobby, give it a try :)
I seem to recall that the Greeks kept their coins in their mouths when out shopping. Hard to believe, but that's what I was taught in my college course text book or supplemental text.
Very interesting 😀!
What gold and silver shills fail to mention is copper and bronze have a value . Enough coins to make a spear tip would have about the value of a spear tip . These metals did not lay on the ground free for anyone to puck up. .
I mean they kind of do lie on the ground you just might not own the land and you more than likely wouldn't know how to extract those metals from the ground or how to purify them. I know that I don't, but I do know that they come from the ground😂
@Osama_Zyn_Laden l know how to extract gold and silver. I use the point of my no value bronze spear tip . 🤣 l also don't care whose land l am on. A spear tip is 9/10s of the law.
@HansSchick 🤣
@@Osama_Zyn_Laden See how valuable bronze is. 🤣
its a wonder that those tiny coins mad it to our time
its for some 2300+ years
By any chance, do you know what was used in the eastern half of the Roman Empire? it’s my understanding that the eastern half in particular had a lot of Greek influence. I wonder if that included Greek coins in addition to the denarius.
Take a look at my video on "Roman Provincial Coinage" for the answer to that :)
Yes, the Romans kept lots of the previously established monetary standards in place.
Am I correct in assuming that ancient peoples kept their "small change" in coin purses? That would probably be more secure than modern pockets, but I'll bet a lot of these tiny coins were still lost!
Pockets likely didnt exist back then, so yes, they were most likely carried in small purses
The urge to return to precious metals and just carry around a sack full of tiny coins. Fiat currencies are a scam, and they've been enslaving mankind for over a hundred years.
❤
In ancient Greece how much of the economy was monetary and how much of the economy was barter?
There was a reasonably high urban population for ancient times, maybe up to 30%. These people mostly used coins. As for the rural population, it depended on how isolated they were and if they could access coins.
Both the Greeks and the Romans were surprisingly monetized.
@@ClassicalNumismatics Thank you.
Nice owl!
Who do you trust to have authentic ones? I’ve seen ancient European coins on sites like eBay listed as being sold from China
Basically you can't trust anyone anymore. The Chinese CAN be such good forgers that very respectable auction houses will only give a 5 year warranty of authenticity. Thus is not enough time to find the forger if ever and prove they are fakes so you can get a refund. To get past testing of the metal for ancient impurities they smelt no value coins to make new ones.
Great video, but the last coin shown, the Roman one, has a texture that looks almost sand-cast to me. Am I crazy?
The coin comes from a pretty reliable source (Kuenker). At some point it must have had a layer of horn silver which has since then been cleaned, leaving the roughness on the surface you very reasonably point out.
I think the coin is good, just a bit corroded :)
I think it's pitting from being in a saltwater environment. Please correct me.
@@ClassicalNumismatics Ok good to hear! Just curious now, what is horn silver?