Ancient Electrum Coins from the 7th and 6th Centuries BC

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@ClassicalNumismatics 4 ай бұрын

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@financeexplainedgraphics 4 ай бұрын

I have a Lydian hemioble in my collection on display - people always marvel at how old and how detailed something so small was from so long ago. A beautiful piece of history with so much meaning. Looking for a gold lion to add to the collection.

@fingerlingv3339 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for the video, I’ve just purchased the last one you display. Description did say uncertain mint but what fascinated me was the date. 625-600bc possibly. Oldest I’ve seen so far and I just had to own it. To think I’m holding something that someone made and used 2 and a half thousand years ago is unbelievable.

@wollin20 3 ай бұрын

Superb video ! To answer your last question, yes, I have electrum coins, 5 hektes from Mytilene and 1 from Phokaia, 1 myshemihecte (1 fourth of an hekte) from Kyzikos and one tenth of a stater from Carthage, all from the Vth and IVth centuries BC. The last ones are really tiny. But I can tell by their colour that they are of very different gold content. Just like what non destructive studies of hektes show, between 41 and 53 % of gold. These studies also show since the beginning of this coinage important traces of lead, which can only be explained by an artificial alloy (not the natural occurring electrum) , made of a controlled quantity of refined gold obtained by cupellation and silver obtained from silver/lead ores. This way the precised quantity of the two precious metals inside was known by the issuing authority. But it is also probable that, even if the weights of the coins were extremely precise, some manipulation of gold content did occur.

@kitrichardson5573 4 ай бұрын

How fascinating to hold the first coin ever minted! Every other coin came from it-that’s the granddaddy of firsts. Hundreds of countries and probably tens of thousands of different types of coins and you held the first one in your hand. Also interesting to hear that these nuggets were naturally found in that area, so it’s not as huge of a leap from taking gold or gold ore and extracting the mineral and then creating a plant. Nature pointed them in the right direction.

@FourFistsdown 4 ай бұрын

Silver siglos is my oldest coin, but I plan on saving for my first electrum coin hopefully within the year

@RavenARPG 4 ай бұрын

Super interesting. I am just getting started with Numismatics, that was really interesting to watch and learned a lot! Thank you!

@Irishsilverstack 4 ай бұрын

great stuff as usual man

@nazarnovitsky9868 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for the new video !! 😊

@AlexJohnson-eb2mu 4 ай бұрын

I believe they enhanced the deep gold hue of surface of some of these electrum coins (as well a jewelry) by adding a small amount of copper.

@brooksrownd2275 4 ай бұрын

ive been looking for one with good eye appeal. they are expensive little things, so its gotta have nice artwork.

@isabelcrb 4 ай бұрын

Amazing coins and narrator!! I always learn a lot in your videos. Keep doing this amazing job!

@nathanielscreativecollecti6392 4 ай бұрын

It's one I would love to purchase given the right chance.

@mkbalefire7630 2 ай бұрын

This video plus another you made recently finally got me to bit the bullet. Just bought a 1/12 silver Kroisos stater 561-546BC for $173 off Vcoins. Its in a little rough shape and a little worn, but still clearly discernable with the lion and the bull. One day Id like to buy a gold one, but I dont have that kind of money now. This is my 4th coin and my 3rd "ancient" coin.

@numiscanal8018 4 ай бұрын

Esas monedas son verdaderas joyas, que estan dentro de las inaccesibles para muchas colecciones debo admitir. Pero quien sabe, y eso no les quita nada de lo fascinantes que son ! Video impecable, como siempre ! 😊

@ClassicalNumismatics 4 ай бұрын

Es verdad, son una verdadera maravilla! Yo todavia quiero un Hekte para mi coleccion personal

@numiscanal8018 4 ай бұрын

@@ClassicalNumismatics solo tengo un hekte de lesbos, de unos 12mm de electrum. Pero ya los que enseñas en este video son de los mas increibles.

@ClassicalNumismatics 4 ай бұрын

Lesbos produjo unas maravillas en electro, que pena que son tan pequeñitas

@MichaelMatthys-p2m 4 ай бұрын

Thank you for this. Another beautiful video and a chance for us to see some lovely coins. I would very much like to own an electrum coin of this period but cannot afford one. I have some silver coins from a little later though, and must be content with those.

@ClassicalNumismatics 4 ай бұрын

Fortunately there is plenty of very affordable, late 6th century BC silver. Given, these are not the oldest coins, but it gets pretty close.

@wahidboucheneb698 4 ай бұрын

The very small denomination of most common type was not so expansive few years ago (I have found in auction a 1/24 stater with swastika for the price of lass than 2 silver common republican denarius in VF condition). With patience and luck you should probably find one of these :) From my point of view it's probably most satifactory to have one single piece of coin history than several random roman coins?

@jsharrad79 4 ай бұрын

I have a silver Lydian stater with the lion and the bull facing off on it, but no electrum.

@briank7936 4 ай бұрын

Another great video. I keep looking for one of these but prices seem to be strong right now.

@ClassicalNumismatics 4 ай бұрын

They do, sadly its a sellers market right now

@ickster23 4 ай бұрын

@@ClassicalNumismaticsThat's an interesting comment, as I'm just about to sell off my collection. I'm very limited in Canada as to ancient dealers to select from. I've given away a bunch of my low value coins to youngsters who are interested in collecting, so I hope I've at least nudged someone else along.

@GordonGrant-o1h 4 ай бұрын

Amazing thanks Leo 👍

@John-thinks 4 ай бұрын

How do you know which coins should be handled with gloves?

@ClassicalNumismatics 4 ай бұрын

These coins belong to a fellow collector who filmed me his pieces. He'd rather handle them with gloves

@dleetr 4 ай бұрын

Good one.

@caracallaavg 4 ай бұрын

Electrum color is so pleasant. I own a silver obol of Bosophor kingdom with a design similar to a hekte. A lion skin on obverse and an incuse punch on reverse

@ClassicalNumismatics 4 ай бұрын

Bospohran kingdom coins are so unique!

@Golden.Silver.Conquistador 4 ай бұрын

The only thing that I love more than gold is silver, and the only thing that I love more than silver is electrum!

@wahidboucheneb698 4 ай бұрын

Vey interesting thank you very much! Do you have references related to the value of coins at this time (it's indicate that the trité is equivalent to 6 months of work at 4:57...). I would like to study more in detail this topic so thank you in advance :)

@ClassicalNumismatics 4 ай бұрын

There is a fascinating podcast from the American Numismatic Society called "White Gold: Studies in Early Electrum Coinage" which I recommend, they go in detail on the topic. They have also released a book with the same name, look it up on google.

@jadenephrite 4 ай бұрын

Thank you for your video. Regarding 7:00, since Electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of Gold & Silver, the gold and silver content in Electrum varied considerably. Eventually the Gold Parting Process was invented which could separate Gold and Silver from Electrum. This metallurgy enabled Silver coins and Gold coins to be minted separately. The Electrum separation process is known as Salt Cementation whereby Electrum was combined with salt, urine and brick dust (or pulverized pottery shards), sealed in a crucible and heated. Then purified Gold would remain in the crucible along with Silver Chloride which would later be purified into Silver. To convert Silver Chloride, it is dissolved in an aqueous solution, then mix into solution some Lye and then some Sugar. Thereafter recover the precipitated Silver powder and melt it into a bullion ingot bar. Form the bar into a billet and cut out planchets which would be stamped into Silver coins.

@yetanotherjohn 4 ай бұрын

Outstanding! But... why the gloves? Do old coins get rusty? do they contain a virus?

@ClassicalNumismatics 4 ай бұрын

The owner of these coins prefers to handle them with gloves :)

@markp44288 4 ай бұрын

My only electrum coin from this era is a fouree. It's pretty cool though.

@benoone9573 4 ай бұрын

Thanks again for such an enjoyalble video! No ancient Greek gold coins at all, but several very nice little obol coins, or fractions of, in silver. Much cheaper and easier to find, still just wonderfully made in tiniest details.