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 Replies: 7 / Views: 1,786 |
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New Member
Canada
15 Posts |
A testament to the might of the Ptolemaic dynasty during this period. I wonder when in circulation what the buying power was for one of these massive coins? Alexandia 246-221bc Obv: Diademed head of Zeus-Ammon right Rev: Eagle standing left on thunderbolt / E between legs Svoronos 446   |
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Valued Member
United States
319 Posts |
Croft...do my eyes deceive me? Forty-seven millimeters?! Wowwww, man. That is one impressive coin. Good details remain...clean look...and that size! Thank you for sharing an awesome specimen of this type.
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New Member
 Canada
15 Posts |
Size comparison to a Ptolemy ii tetradrachm! The tetra has a beautiful portrait of Ptolemy ii along with some ancient graffito and evidence mounting in a bezel.   |
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Valued Member
United States
319 Posts |
Both are beautiful...but the size of that Octo is stunning. My largest coin is a Hadrian sestertius at 33.7mm. So 47mm is simply boggling!
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New Member
Canada
15 Posts |
CircusMax,
Thanks! Its a real hockey puck, 8 of these and you could make a broze sword!
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Moderator
 Australia
16817 Posts |
Quote:
I wonder when in circulation what the buying power was for one of these massive coins? In 240 BC, a tetradrachm would have been a week's wages for a skilled labourer. There were 6 obols to the drachm and 4 drachms in a tetradrachm, so one obol was worth 1/24th of a tetradrachm. An octobol (8 obols) was therefore worth 8/24, or 1/3 of a tetradrachm. So, about 2 days wages. It would have been an inconveniently heavy way to store wealth or carry wealth around; you wouldn't have wanted to own more than one, let alone the three you would need to convert it into a tetradrachm. As for buying power, we don't really have a lot to go on. We have some preserved price lists and family budgets from the Roman Imperial era, but not much from the Ptolemaic era. We do know that wheat and bread have always been cheaper in Egypt than they were in Europe; an obol's worth of wheat could make enough bread to feed one person for a week or more. An octobol would probably pay for the entire shopping list for a middle-class family for a week. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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New Member
Canada
15 Posts |
Sap,
Very informative thank you so much!
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2517 Posts |
A magnificent coin in every sense of the word. Highly skilled engraving too. Thanks for showing.
The Ox moves slowly, but the Earth is patient.
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Replies: 7 / Views: 1,786 |
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Posted 02/23/2023 4:01 pm
