Largest silver coin of antiquity

         THE LARGEST SILVER COIN OF ANTIQUITY

Double decadrachm of the Indo-Greek ruler Amyntas ( 95 – 90 B.C.) weighs just 85g!

Seated Tyche with cornucopia (Amalthea’s horn) on left hand, and with the right hand making a benediction gesture identical to the Buddhist vitarka mudra.

Some of the Bactrian Greek coins and those of their successors in India, the Indo-Greeks, are considered the finest examples of Greek numismatic art.

All Greek coins were hand made, rather than milled as modern coins are. The design for the obverse was carved (in reverse) into a block of stone or iron. The design of the reverse was carved into another. The blank gold or silver disk, heated to make it soft, was then placed between these two blocks and the upper block struck hard with a hammer, “punching” the design onto both sides of the coin.