Redvers class

Fairford class

PENT/BUNTEP images

BUNTEP Dauphin

Finest coin ever

THE FINEST COIN PRODUCED IN THE ANCIENT WORLD, PERHAPS EVER

A large silver decadrachm from Syracuse. Official picture has copyright on it, so here are some attempts to portray the image.

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.

Largest gold coin of antiquity

         THE  LARGEST  GOLD  COIN  OF  ANTIQUITY

It is a 20- stater coin.

---- 1 Attic stater was equal to 8.6 grams (in contrast, 1 English gold sterling is equal to 7.98 grams), therefore the coin weighs 172 grams!

It s diameter is 58 mm!

This coin was found in Buskhara, Uzbekistan (old Sogdiana) and was acquired by Napoleon III.

Eucratides was a Bactrian king between 171 and 145 B.C.

These coins were minted to celebrate Eucratides’ defeat over his rival king Demetrios I, who had gone on a campaign in India.