Electrum Hektai

[AncientNumis]

A recent write-up from from my blog (https://ancientnumis.substack.com/) that I thought might prove interesting as a brief introductory guide to the series of hektai issued at Phokaia/Mytilene (and an opportunity to discuss some awesome coin types, of course!)...

Let’s look at an extraordinary series of miniature masterpieces, in gold, featuring an impressive array of designs… that isn’t prohibitively expensive! 

Firstly, however, it’s important to understand the development of electrum coins…

Early Coinage

The very first coins ever minted, produced in Lydia in the 7th century BC, were made of electrum (an alloy composed primarily of gold and silver). There were, however, issues with this:

• The coins had differing metal compositions, so those that had less gold (and were therefore worth less inherently) were treated as having the same monetary value as others with a higher gold to silver ratio
• Because Electrum was so valuable, coins for daily transactions had to be inconveniently tiny: the smallest denomination weighed ~0.08g, with a diameter of ~3mm
• Electrum as a metal was relatively abundant in the region - a reason for its initially success - but scarce elsewhere, preventing coinage from spreading further geographically

As a result, a bimetallic system (gold & silver) was soon introduced by the famed King Croesus of Lydia. In some city-states, however, electrum coinage continued to be issued up to Alexander the Great: namely Kyzikos (in Mysia), Mytilene (on the island of Lesbos) and Phokaia (in Ionia). We are interested in the output of these last two mints.

Hektai

The term ‘hekte’ (ἕκτη) literally means sixth in Ancient Greek, and is used by numismatists to refer to electrum sixth stater denomination. These would weigh ~2.5g, and, despite their small size, represent a relatively large sum of money; one hekte might have been equivalent to roughly a week’s work. While Kyzikos chiefly used the larger full stater, with a wide array of fractional coins, at Mytilene and Phokaia electrum coins were issued nearly always as hektai (used locally). It is this series that we will investigate further.

A Tale of Two Cities

An extant treaty between Mytilene and Phokaia reveals the extent of their cooperation in issuing these hektai. It would seem that that “the minting of electrum hektai was undertaken in alternate years by these two cities” and that “the designs were changed for each issue”. Furthermore, harsh retribution was set for those who attempted to debase the this coinage, the integrity of which relied on maintaining the metal composition.

“Whoever makes up the gold will be liable to punishment by both cities. […] If caught mixing the gold to dilution willfully, the punishment will be death with fury.”

While at Phokaia the appearance of a quadripartite incuse square on the reverse demonstrated an affinity for the archaic, issues from Mytilene featured changing designs on both sides. The specimens below should serve to demonstrate the development of hektai at Mytilene.

Early Example

LESBOS. Mytilene. Circa 478-455 BC. Hekte (9mm, 2.54 g, 6h). Head of lion right / Incuse head of calf right. Bodenstedt Em. 24; HGC 6, 950. VF. Struck on a slightly short flan.

Initially, electrum hektai from Mytilene commonly featured animal designs; on this example, we see the heads of lion and calf. In fact, lions were especially popular and might as a motif “hark back to designs present on the earliest coinage”, after all they were issued in the same general area as Lydia (Western Anatolia). The reverse design appears incuse, reminiscent of the techniques associated with gemstone engraving. Indeed, the remarkable level of detail for a flan just 9mm wide is a testament to the skill of the celators’ die-cutting for such issues.

Later Example

LESBOS. Mytilene. Circa 377-326 BC. Hekte (Electrum, 10 mm, 2.49 g, 6 h). Head of Dionysos to right, wearing wreath of ivy and fruit. Rev. Head of a satyr to right, wearing wreath of grain ears. Bodenstedt 87. SNG Copenhagen -. SNG von Aulock 1719. The reverse struck slightly off center, otherwise, very fine. Bodenstedt Dies d/-

A hundred years on, however, and the intaglio reverse was dropped in favour of relief designs on both obverse and reverse. The subjects portrayed are different, too; now we see the heads of mythological figures, suggestive of an interest in portraiture. Much more classical in style, this hekte would likely have been struck near the end of the series. And yet, despite these artistic developments, this piece has the same metal composition and measurements as the earlier issue; dedication to consistency was clearly highly valued.

Thoughts

While electrum hektai aren't cheap, the series has so much to offer: an endless range of fascinating designs (historical, mythological, etc.), master craftsmanship and artistic merit and the opportunity to handle charming little lumps of ancient gold. In comparison to pure gold Greek coinage, which tends to be exceedingly valuable, electrum Hektai offer nearly as much (arguably even more, in some cases…) for a whole lot less.

Post your favourite electrum fractions, or anything relevant!

Edited July 5 by AncientNumis

[kirispupis]

Very interesting post. I only have one Hekte, a rare issue that references both Philip II and Alexander III.

Mytilene EL Hekte c. 332 BCE
10.5mm 2.57g 12h
Avers : Tête laurée et barbue de Zeus à droite (Philippe II de Macédoine).
Revers : Tête imberbe d’Héraklès à droite coiffée de la léonté dans un carré linéaire (Alexandre III le Grand).
Bod.103 - B. traité- - Aulock1711 - P.- - BMC.- - Cop.- - HGCS. 5/1029 (R2)

[antwerpen2306]

I have an earlier variant of your first coin : Bodenstedt13,SNGCop301,HGC G,958, circa 521 - 478 BC, 10 mm , 2,52 gr , as 12 uur.

Another with the head of Dionysus : Bodenstedt77, circa 412 - 378BC, 10 mm , 2,54 gr , as 12 uur and on the reverse the head of Artemis.

[Ryro]

Excellent write up! And great coins.  Thanks for sharing. 

Here's my what the hekte nymph:

IONIA. Phokaia. (Circa 477-388). EL Hekte.

Obv: Head of nymph left, hair in sphendone; seal to right.

Rev: Quadripartite incuse square.

SNG von Aulock 2120; Boston MFA 1908-9.

Condition: Fine.

Weight: 2.52 g.

Diameter: 10.19 mm.

[taja1948]

 

GREEK COINS. LESBOS. MYTILENE
El-Hekte (1/6 stater), 521/478 BC; 2.44 g. Lion's head right//Incuse rooster's head left. Bodenstedt 7.6 (this specimen); Waggoner, Rosen Coll. 552 (this specimen).
Wonderful patina, almost extremely fine

Specimen from the Samuel-Jean de Pozzi collection, Ars Classica I auction, Lucerne 1921, no. 2319 and the Jonathan P. Rosen collection

[Deinomenid]

On 7/5/2024 at 4:04 PM, AncientNumis said:

• The coins had differing metal compositions, so those that had less gold (and were therefore worth less inherently) were treated as having the same monetary value as others with a higher gold to silver ratio
• Because Electrum was so valuable, coins for daily transactions had to be inconveniently tiny: the smallest denomination weighed ~0.08g, with a diameter of ~3mm
• Electrum as a metal was relatively abundant in the region - a reason for its initially success - but scarce elsewhere, preventing coinage from spreading further geographically

Great thread idea. Thank you. In case it's  of interest there's some recent research that says some of this wasn't the case. A lot is in the biblically-sized White Gold book, and there are a bunch of supporting articles from related or the same authors. The arguments seem to  have held up well and there's been some strong supporting data since. Of course I'm  just regurgitating this as fact but for what it is worth -

One of the main claims is that electrum was actually *not* that abundant and it was an incredibly  carefully and precisely refined product, displaying huge technological skill. A number of sampling tests, especially riverbed,  have shown electrum to be scarce in a natural state  (obviously with the caveat these tests are  now,  not back then!)  To me, this makes the coinage all the more  amazing.

This is a quote from Wartenburg :

This coinage, which displays many interesting features, has usually a gold content of over 60%, and silver of 40%. A coinage with a facing panther or lion head, which has been associated with the earliest lion coinages, has an almost identical gold/silver ratio of 55-45%, with a 1-2 % copper addition. It is likely that this series closely relates to the official Lydian series. One of the few coinages that can be placed securely at a Greek mint is the recumbent lion series of Miletus. This coinage is characterized by a variable gold – silver ratio, in which gold is usually around 43%, whereas the copper content can be as high as 5%. What these different results all show is a fully organized system, in which a specific composition of electrum for a coin series was created. All this was clearly done deliberately, and the desired gold/silver ratio was achieved by combining pure gold and silver, which was previously refined. The discovery that it was not naturally found electrum, which was used, illustrates a highly sophisticated process, but not only of metallurgical technology in the 7th and 6th century BC, but also an understanding of monetary systems.

Also -

In 2000, Andrew Ramage and Paul Craddock, together with several co-authors, published King Croesus’ Gold, Exavations at Sardis and the History of Gold Refining, a book that set a new standard for research on early electrum coinage. The archaeologists examined in detail a metal refinery of the Archaic period in the Lydian capital. From the various finds, it became clear that gold and silver was refined here in the sixth century; the excavation revealed that electrum was separated into pure gold and silver by the process of cementation and cupellation. The authors concluded that the gold refinery at Sardis was therefore to be associated with coin production and more specifically with first Lydian production of pure silver and gold coinage under King Croesus. This interpretation became questionable by another piece of groundbreaking work from Sardis. The current director of the excavations, Professor Nicholas Cahill and his colleagues, analyzed two Lydian third staters excavated at Sardis. The team analyzed these coins by XRF and concluded that they were probably artificially enriched and that the inner core had a higher concentration of silver than the outside. Furthermore, analysis of locally found placer gold from the Sardis river was actually pure gold, not electrum.

 

There's also an  interesting argument (which I can't precisely locate now) that explains  later fluctuations in gold/silver ratios as less random or less attempts to game the system than an intelligent constant adjustment to the  real world changes in the relative  pricing of gold and  silver, which of course moved around quite a lot,  both over time and from area to area. My apologies  if that's all a bit dry,  but it adds interest in my view!

To atone,  here are a couple more ~early examples.

Hecte circa 521-478, EL 2.56 g. Head of lion r., with open jaws. Rev. Calf's head r., incuse.

LESBOS. Mytilene. Circa 521-478 BC. Hekte (Electrum, 9 mm, 2.48 g, 12 h). Head of a ram to right; below, rooster standing left, pecking at the ground. Rev. Incuse head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin headdress; below, incuse club.

 

[AncientNumis]

@Deinomenid Thanks very much for taking the time to write such a detailed reply, and it's honour to be corrected by someone so experienced/knowledgable. My numismatic research is very basic at the moment, but I'm looking forward to maybe purchasing the "White Gold" you mentioned to learn more - it's certainly a topic that fascinates me (as a relative beginner), and I appreciate the opportunity to learn more about it from you. I'm especially curious about your last point, sounds like a very interesting theory. And lovely coins too, of course: your lion/calf is especially stunning in my opinion - when I show family/friends the off-centre reverse of my similar type they can never guess what it depicts exactly 😂. Again, thanks!!

[panzerman]

Great thread/ here a a few of mine.....

[Glebe]

For some alternate ideas on the origin of electrum coinage see here:

https://www.glebecoins.org/electrum/index.html

Ross G.

[I_v_a_n]

Here is one more version:

https://www.academia.edu/123368779/COINS_OF_THE_LYDIAN_KINGDOM

This article still in draft (I need help with english language editing, may be someone here can be interested in cooperation and wants to become a co-author?) and operates the same data from "White Gold" (i.e. metall analyses and etc.) but has another conclusion.

P.S. Here are some of ex-mine Hektes.

 

[Glebe]

10 hours ago, I_v_a_n said:

Here is one more version:

https://www.academia.edu/123368779/COINS_OF_THE_LYDIAN_KINGDOM

This article still in draft (I need help with english language editing, may be someone here can be interested in cooperation and wants to become a co-author?) and operates the same data from "White Gold" (i.e. metall analyses and etc.) but has another conclusion.

P.S. Here are some of ex-mine Hektes.

 

An interesting paper, particularly the references to the electrum objects with a gold content of c. 67% and a silver content of c. 33%, which suggests the use of a standardised electrum composition in the 7^th cent.

Presumably these are the objects referred to in paragraphs 17 & 18 in the paper by Melcher et al on the XRF analysis of the gold/electrum objects found at Ephesus.

However I couldn’t find these objects in Table 1 of Melcher et al’s paper, which is supposed to summarise all those results (you have to link on Table 1).

It doesn’t help that in the body of the Melcher paper these objects are referred to via their inventory number in the Ephesus museum (at Seljuk), but in Table ! a quite different numbering system is used.

And why does Table 1 mostly omit the silver content for the various objects?

Ross G.

Edited August 30 by Glebe

[I_v_a_n]

8 hours ago, Glebe said:

However I couldn’t find these objects in Table 1 of Melcher et al’s paper, which is supposed to summarise all those results (you have to link on Table 1).

Here are these 7 objects I've mentioned in the article with Artemis's figurine highlighted by blue.

 

You should use Pulz: 2009 book to identify objects by inventory numbers as I've done with Artemis's figurine.

 

8 hours ago, Glebe said:

And why does Table 1 mostly omit the silver content for the various objects?

This is a case for 7 first objects manufactured from pure (or almost pure) gold, plausibly refined.

 

[Glebe]

8 hours ago, I_v_a_n said:

Here are these 7 objects I've mentioned in the article with Artemis's figurine highlighted by blue.

 

You should use Pulz: 2009 book to identify objects by inventory numbers as I've done with Artemis's figurine.

 

This is a case for 7 first objects manufactured from pure (or almost pure) gold, plausibly refined.

 

Thanks for that Ivan, and I found a better version of Melcher et al on Academia here:

https://www.academia.edu/68558247/Investigation_of_ancient_gold_objects_from_Artemision_at_Ephesus_using_portable_%CE%BC_XRF

This has the proper version of Table 1.

Regarding the 11 coins in the table, do we know what types they are?

I’m guessing they’re (mostly) Mysian of some sort.

Ross G.

Edited August 31 by Glebe

[I_v_a_n]

11 hours ago, Glebe said:

Regarding the 11 coins in the table, do we know what types they are?

I’m guessing they’re (mostly) Mysian of some sort.

I didn't use the data from this section in the article. My source for coins was Gitler et al. (2020).

But if you want, it's possible to identify some of the coins here: http://sardisexpedition.org/en/artifacts?q=&object_type[]=Coin&material[]=Electrum

 

For example:

98/43/94 is the KUKALIM trite http://sardisexpedition.org/en/artifacts/latw-21

96/41/86 is the boar type trite http://sardisexpedition.org/en/artifacts/latw-22

99/43/94 Lydian 1/24 stater http://sardisexpedition.org/en/artifacts/latw-23

and etc.

 

[TIF]

Interesting thread-- a lot of article and resources to peruse.   I have only a couple of EL hektes to show:

LESBOS, Mytilene
521-478 BCE
EL hekte, 10.5 mm, 2.6 gm
Obv: forepart of winged boar right
Rev: incuse head of lion left; rectangular punch behind
Ref: Bodenstedt Em. 10; HGC 6, 935; SNG von Aulock –; Boston MFA 1678; BMC –

 

 IONIA, Phokaia
EL hekte, 11 mm, 2.5 gm
c. 478-387BCE
Obv: head of young male left, wearing Silenos mask on top of head; to right, small seal downward
Rev: quadripartite incuse square.
Ref: Bodenstedt Em. 70; SNG von Aulock –; Boston MFA –; BMC 43 

 

Not a hekte but because of the ensuing discussions I'll toss it in.  I'm not sure of the dating for this Lydian lion-- if anyone thinks the date range is wrong, please let me know.

KINGS OF LYDIA, temp. Ardys - Alyattes
c. 620s-564/53 BCE
Electrum trite, 4.8 gm, 13.4 mm. Sardes mint.
Obv: head of roaring lion right, sun with four rays on forehead
Rev: two incuse square punches
Ref: Weidauer Group XV, 64
 

On a closeup of this coin's reverse you can appreciate incomplete mixing of the constituent metals:


  

Edited August 31 by TIF

[I_v_a_n]

1 hour ago, TIF said:

if anyone thinks the date range is wrong, please let me know.

I like the Andrew Meadows version for electrum coins invention in connection with king's Gyges need to pay mercenary troops haired by Lydians against Cymmerians. The usual way to pay mercenaries with a part from booty does not worked in case with Cymmerians because they was only "poor" nomads without great palaces full of treasures.

It means, that some earliest series with shared punches ("4-rays sun" like yours trite, "WALWET" and "KUKALIM") was minted during (or around) Lydian - Cymmerian war. The war was began during Gyges rein and was ended by his heir on the throne, pressumably Alyates I (instead of Ardys). Gyges died around 645-643 BCE (reliable date from Assyrian cuneiforms), so yours trite plausibly was minted somewhen around 644 BCE not long before and not long after.

This assumption fits well with the reliable dating from Artemision before 640-620 BCE (terminus ante quem) which comes from archaeology.

Nothing to do with lower dates range which is typical for auctiones descriptions 564/53 BCE, because terminus ante quem for next generation of "usual type" of lydian electrum lions is c. 590 BCE also comes from archaeology. 

[TIF]

Thank you for that valuable information, @I_v_a_n!  Much appreciated 🥰