given the current archaeological knowledge of the period 700 to 550 B.C. It appears that the first
carefully weighed nuggets of electrum, either with blank globular reverses or crudely striated
reverses, date to the period 680 to 650 B.C. A naturally occurring gold and silver alloy placer gold
known as electrum was commonly found in alluvial deposits in these provinces. The first step
towards a useful coinage production was to form the nuggets of electrum into standard weights so
the merchant would not have to weigh the precious metal with each transaction. These nuggets
have one or two square incuse pyramidal punch marks on the obverses.
begun as early as 650 B.C. but this is uncertain. The reverses of these struck nuggets still carried
only the deep incuse punch marks on the reverse.
It is more probable that these electrum fractional Staters were struck closer to 610 to 590 B.C. They
were struck with two dies, thus conveying an image to both obverse and reverse. Due to the
extensive use of straight lines, and angles; right, acute and oblique, all in dramatic and deeply
incused designs, this issue is described as the Geometric Series. The meanings of these designs
can only be conjectural. A casual analysis doesn't indicate a connection between the arrangement
of squares, rectangles, triangles, dots and radials with the denomination (or weight). Fortunately the
series is being published so a greater number of minds can contemplate the mystery. Straight lines
in nature are not common aside from the horizon, a water surface, a few plants, and a few minerals.
Maybe these geometric designs were a die engraver 's celebration of the simplicity of straight lines.
Greek temples were very angular, so possibly these had a religious significance. Maybe the design
represents a bird's eye (or god's eye view) of an ancient fort or walled city. If the collapsed square
represents the walls, the cross through the center would be the roads. Forts have been built over
the centuries with walls at oblique angles to each other to allow the defending troops to easily take
aim at enemy climbing ladders. This interpretation seems whimsical, but the depiction of military
camps are known on Roman coins 1,000 years later.
would have entered the trade routes and turned up in coin hoards of not only the Ionian Greeks but
also the Phoenecians and the Egyptians. Some metallurgists could argue that the uncertain ratio of
gold to silver in electrum would preclude the acceptance of these nuggets as money, but many
economists counter with many examples of money, frequently coins, in many different cultures that
were highly unfair to someone, but used nevertheless. Other historians are disturbed by the lack of
inscriptions and/or the lack of uniform governmental symbols for the overall very diverse electrum
issues of the period 650 to 450 B.C. Some archaeologists feel that these high value, carefully
weighed nuggets of electrum were all temple donations, or perhaps a mass distribution of public
wealth. Others think these gold pieces represented payments to Greek mercenaries of Ionia fighting
for the Lydian king. A full electrum Stater has been suggested as a month's pay for a Greek hoplite
(heavily armored, well trained infantryman). Maybe large treasures of electrum captured as war loot
were designated as a share or bonus to the troops. By dividing the gold or electrum into large
numbers of exact weights of several different sizes it was very easy for even a paymaster of minimal
arithmetic skills to equally divide the booty. Or maybe the troops' pay was prorated by the week or
day, and change was needed. The mercenary pay theory of early coins relates to the camp or fort
map interpretation of the designs. Perhaps all the different and seemingly random animals on other
issues represented the mascots of various military units. Maybe these issues were all merchant
issues, and when their own coins came back in payment to them, especially if the circulations were
all local, they were saved the time of reweighing the electrum payment. If the early coins were
issued by different merchants or royalty maybe the depictions were their personal badges. it has
been suggested that these different designs were simply unique for each moneyer or mintmaster.
preparation knew and understood arithmetic, scales, weights and measures. The Geometric series
is based on the weight system named after the ancient Greek city of Miletos, and was widely used
in Greek Asia minor. The Milesian Stater weighed 14.1 grams, so in our Geometric series the 1/3
Stater, or Trite, weighs about 4.7 grams, the 1/6 Stater, or Hecte, weighs about 2.35 grams, the 1/12
Stater or Hemihecte, weighs about 1.17 grams, and the 1/24 Stater, or electrum Obol weighs about
.59 grams. In a forthcoming article by Eric McFadden, with the assistance of Dr. Lawrence Adams,
the fineness of these electrum issues is discussed. Assuming a gold/silver only alloy, the fineness
according to specific gravity averages 39 percent.
gold struck nuggets were created as an easier medium of exchange, intended to be accepted
whenever wealth, whether for religious, business or military purposes, needed to be transferred.
Gold and silver were already accepted by most cultures as metals of great value. The electrum was
found abundantly in western Asia Minor, and the technology of refining the gold was not widespread,
so the locals used what they had and became comfortable with the value of the electrum fractions
tendered to them. It is true that the uncertain gold content did not encourage widespread trading,
since foreign merchants would heavily discount the electrum in their favor. The electrum issues
were discarded in Lydia by 560 B.C. when Croesus went to separate and near pure gold and silver
coinages. The relatively high intrinsic value of the electrum was awkward, which is why fractions as
tiny as 1/96 of a Stater exist. This is certainly in the range of normal day-to-day marketplace
transactions. Life did become easier for common folk all over the Greek world with the advent of
pure silver coinages c. 575 B.C., but the electrum issues in a bewildering array of designs continued
to circulate heavily in Ionia, Aiolis, and the Greek islands off their coasts for at least the next two
hundred years. The early issues are simply the beginnings of coinage as we understand it.
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