I was doing some reading on Greek fractional coins on Doug's site and I saw this photo--isn't it an amazing contrast against a US cent? This coin weighs just 0.1 grams. The smallest coin I own weighs a rather hefty 1.6 grams.
Identified as Phocaea, Ionia - Silver 1/8 obol? - Late Sixth Century BC - 5mm, .1g Female head 'Smyrna type' left / 4 part incuse - Rosen 598
If these fractions were meant for daily use, I wondered how they were carried, because I could easily lose mine. According to Doug's article, they may have been carried in the owner's mouth. So...I suppose if one was accidentally swallowed, it was recovered later?
Another practical consideration would be counterfeiting. How hard would it have been to produce and pass fakes of such small coins? If I were selling something, and I was paid in silver fractionals--would I check them for details, or just go by total weight of the silver? I would think if these were test cut, they could quickly fall apart.
I can't imagine taking a coin out of my mouth when paying anybody. Would the next person who receives the coin then put it in their mouth? At least silver has some antimicrobal qualities--so that may have reduced disease transmission.
Quote: wow! is that a "chunk" of a larger coin or is that pretty much the whole coin?
It's the whole coin!
Quote: My smallest coins is 8mm and I thought that was tiny. For a coin that is only 5mm that is a clear strike.
It's impressive they got that much detail on that little bit of silver--and it was smaller before it was struck! A US dime is huge by comparison--18mm. My smallest modern coin, a Finland Penni is 15mm and 1.28 gram--and I bet kids swallowed them all the time.
Quote: According to Doug's article, they may have been carried in the owner's mouth.
The "literary evidence" Doug cites is the play "The Birds" by Aristophanes. In it, the slave Euelpides confesses that he once "rolled on the ground when I saw a kite, and then on my back, with my mouth open, I swallowed an obol, and had to trail my bag home empty". It's assumed that the only way somebody can swallow a coin just by looking up was if they were carrying coins in their mouth at the time.
There are smaller coins by weight but somewhere we have to allow for wear and tear reducing the total. This .1g coins is thicker than many. My pages also show a hexas of Syracuse that is half as heavy but close to a millimeter larger in diameter. Weight of silver meant everything in that day. The amount of profit to be made counterfeiting coins in good silver was small enough that we don't see a lot of them. Plated coins smaller than drachm size are unusual and I do not own a plated obol but I believe they exist.
One of my dealers had two of what were the smallest gold coins in the world. This was several months ago but if I recall, they must have been 1.5-2 mm wide. I think they were Indian or something. I was pretty surprised to say the least!
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The smallest coin I own weighs a rather hefty 1.6 grams.
Posted 03/14/2012 8:51 pm
It's impressive they got that much detail on that little bit of silver--and it was smaller before it was struck! A US dime is huge by comparison--18mm. My smallest modern coin, a Finland Penni is 15mm and 1.28 gram--and I bet kids swallowed them all the time. 
truly 
