Greek coins

Greek coins for sale, from electrum to the Hellenistic kings

This category gathers Greek coins for sale from about 600 BC to the Roman period: early electrum from Ionia, silver from the city states of Greece, Asia Minor and southern Italy, Persian sigloi, and coins of Alexander the Great and the kingdoms that followed him. Each coin is described with mint, date, weight and catalogue reference where available.

From the first electrum to the city states

How did coinage begin?

The earliest coins were made of electrum, a natural alloy of gold and silver, in Lydia and the Greek cities of Ionia in western Asia Minor. Coins found at the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus are dated to around 640 BC. In the mid-6th century BC King Croesus of Lydia replaced electrum with separate coins of gold and silver. Small electrum coins such as the hekte, a sixth of a stater, and its fractions are among the oldest coins a collector can own.

City states and their symbols

Every city struck its own coins with its own emblem, which worked almost like a trademark. The island of Aegina had its turtle. Athens used the head of Athena and her owl, and the Athenian owl tetradrachm became the leading trade coin of the Classical period.

In southern Italy, cities such as Kroton, Metapontion and Sybaris struck incuse coins from around 550 BC: the same design appears raised on one side and sunk on the other. Kroton used a tripod, as on this nomos from Kroton, and Metapontion an ear of barley. Tarentum is known for its horseman and for Taras riding a dolphin.

The Persian kings had their own silver coin, the siglos, introduced in the late 6th century BC. It shows the king as an archer, and twenty sigloi made one gold daric.

Drachms, obols and the smallest silver coins

On the Attic standard a drachm weighed about 4.3 grams of silver and was divided into six obols. The tetradrachm was worth four drachms, while the diobol, the trihemiobol (1½ obols) and the hemiobol were small change. The smallest, such as the tetartemorion, a quarter obol, weigh only a fraction of a gram. These little coins are often affordable, and they show how far coinage reached into daily life.

What do collectors look for in Greek coins?

• Style: dies were cut by hand, and the artistic quality varies greatly between cities and periods. A fine portrait or a well-cut animal can matter more than the grade.
• Strike and centring: a full design on a full flan is preferred. Many coins, especially small ones, are slightly off-centre.
• Surface: original toning is preferred. Test cuts, bankers’ marks and porosity are common on ancient silver and affect the value.
• Portraits of kings: after Alexander’s death, Hellenistic rulers such as the Ptolemies and the Seleucids put their own portraits on their coins.

Read more in our guide to Alexander the Great coins and in Animals on coins, about the owl, the turtle and other emblems. Roman coins follow in Roman coins, and the whole period is gathered under Greek & Roman.