CNG - Ionia. ELECTRUM 1/24th Stater. Rare! F+
$305.00
Jun-28-00
Seller: cngcoins 

     Ionia, Uncertain mint. Circa 7th-6th Century BC. EL 1/24th
     Phokaic Stater (0.76 gm). Irregular linear design / Incuse punch.
     Cf. Rosen 280. Nice Fine. Rare! 720966

     The history and distribution of the early electrum coinage of
     Asia Minor is known only in the broadest outline. While certain
     types, such as the stag of Ephesos and the seal of Phokaia can be
     identified with some certainty as distinctive civic badges, the
     vast majority of attributions can be based only on educated
     guesswork, aided by reports of site finds such as the great
     Artemision deposit of 1904-1905. Some order can be put to the
     confusing series by identifing which weight standard a coin was
     struck to. The cities of Asia Minor were grouped into informal
     leagues or trading networks, sharing the same standards. The two
     most common stater standards are named after the most prominent
     of these cities, Miletos (Milesian, c.14.1 grams), and Phokaia
     (Phokaic, c.16.2 grams). Other weight standards have been
     identified as Croesid (later Persian, c. 10.8 grams), Aeginetan
     (c.12.5 grams), Lampsacene (c.15.3 grams) and Euboic-Attic (c.17
     grams). While this will serve to categorize a stater easily
     enough, by the time you get down to 1/24 or 1/48 staters, the
     difference between standards may only be 0.03 grams, too slight
     to get a certain reading when wear on the coins and the accuracy
     of the average scale is taken into account. The standard given
     for the fraction offered here is our best approximation based on
     these two factors. It will be noted that coins of identical type
     in the Rosen collection are given to two different systems based
     on weights.