Lead

Cast

Disc or similar (ellipse, etc.)

2.10 cm

2.10 cm

- cm

Mass (g)	Mass (grain)	Date of measurement	Reference	fragmented	cleaned	reference weight
10.26	-	-	Auction Ares 2019	No	No	Yes

Symbol	Technique	Direction	Position	Number	Synecdoche
Male figure	Relief	TQRIGHT			Head

Auction Ares 2019: Uncertain. 4th-3rd centuries BC. PB Tessera. Condition: Very Fine. Weight: 10.26 gr. Diameter: 21 mm.

No

Language	Technique	Legend type

GREEK

FROM -400 TO -100

Name	Date of acquisition	Inventory number
Antiquities Trade	Oct. 25, 2020	None

Reference	Page/Column	Reference (number)	Plate / Figure	Comment
Auction Ares 2019c	None	901	None	None
Auction Ares 2020g	None	1235	None	None

Auction Ares 2019: Lead coins were issued in several areas of the ancient Greek world. Most prominent among the issuers are Alexander Jannaeus of Judaea and the rulers of the Nabataean kingdom. Yet unique lead objects from other areas are periodically seen as well, sometimes directly copying one or both sides of an official coin, sometimes bearing completely unknown fantasy types (for example, CNG 85, 330 and BCD Thessaly 1305). These enigmatic pieces are frequently identified as distribution tokens or entry tickets, an untenable attribution given the lack of precise provenance. Other possible uses for the objects abound, including: tokens, bullae, weights, contemporary or modern counterfeits, funerary money, test-pieces or strikes, and even circulating coinage. Of these suggestions, a use as a token or test-piece is most likely. As tokens, the objects may have initially served as proof or guarantee of some sort. As test-pieces, the objects would have served to demonstrate coin designs for approval prior to mass striking, as pattern coins do in the modern world.