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Ionia, also known as the Ionian League or the Panionic League, was a group of 12 cities (dodecapolis) formed in mid-7th century BC. In the Histories of Herodotus, the member cities are grouped by their traditions and different dialects: Miletus, Myus, and Priene, all in Caria (a region in Asia Minor); Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedus, Teos, Clazomenae and Phocaea, in Lydia; the island of Chios and Erythrae (Asia Minor); and the island of Samos. In 650 BC, the city of Smyrna defected from the Aolis to join the Ionian League.
Bounded by Aeolia to the north, Lydia to the east, and Caria to the south, Ionia held an important economic and strategic location between rest of the Greeks and the Persian Empire. The very first coins appeared in this region about the time the Ionian League was formed. These coins were made of electrum, a naturally occurring gold and silver alloy.
Although of irregular size and shape, these coins were made to a strict standard of weight (the Lydo-Milesian standard): one stater weighed a little over 14 g. Coins were also minted in fractional denominations, such the denomination of this coin, a 1/3 stater (or Trite). The earliest coin designs were relatively simple, for example, with obverse displaying empty globular fields, parallel or crisscrossing lines, striations, or pellets, and the reverse containing an incuse (punched into the coin, rather than in relief) geometric mark.
Such traits are found on this very rare coin, minted around mid-7th century BC. The obverse is a globular surface with a cluster of pellets possibly representing a lion’s head. This stylized representation might be a transition between simple obverse designs and the lion’s head that would soon become popular on Ionian and Lydian electrum coinage. The coin’s reverse is comprised of two incuse squares, probably meant to signify exactly where and by whom it was minted, which, alas, has been forgotten.
Additional Reading: "Early electrum coins," R Glanfield, November 2012.
Coin Details: IONIA, Uncertain, ca. 650-600 BC, EL Trite – Third Stater (14mm, 4.66 g), Lydo-Milesian standard, NGC Graded: Ch AU, Strike: 3/5, Surface: 4/5, Obverse: globular surface with cluster of pellets, Reverse: Two incuse squares. References: Weidauer; Traité I 3; Elektron; Rosen 253; SNG Kayhan; SNG von Aulock 7761; Pozzi 2350.