Collecting Ancient Greek Coins

If you’re thinking about collecting ancient coins, Greek coins are one area rich in history that you might want to consider. Greeks took the idea of coinage from the Lydians, the inventors of the first coins, and made their own. The earliest ancient Greek coins are crude pieces, shaped like a bean. However, over the years, the sophistication of the ancient Greek coins evolved into flattened round pieces, which are characteristic of coins everywhere today. Hundreds of Greek city-states issued coins from 500 B.C. to 400 B.C., producing numerous innovative designs. The patterns on Greek coins include the image of grapes, eagles, dolphins, and gods and goddesses. Greeks issued their coins in monetary units; drachma is the most basic, while a Decadrachm is a large silver coin equal to 10 drachma.