World's largest coin

Here's a twist to this thread. It's is in fact arguable that the
"coin" under question isn't a coin at all but rather a bullion piece.
So here's the largest circulating coin, a piece used as real money, in
my own collection:

http://reidgold.home.comcast.net/~re...my_II_AE46.jpg

It's a two-thousand-year-old bronze of Ptolemy II, one of the
Macedonian kings of Egypt in the period after the conquests of
Alexander the Great. Silver was scarce in Egypt, with no native silver
mines, so they used these very large bronze coins to supplement the
silver coins they minted with imported silver. This particular piece
measures 46mm in diameter, is about 6mm thick, and weighs 86.7g. It
was minted in Alexandria c. 265-246 BC and can be attributed no doubt
among other was as Sear 7782, Svoronos 412, SNG Cop. 141, SNG Milano
69-70, BMC 159-163, Mørkholm 301, Noeske 63, Weiser 19-21, Visoná/
Getty 1-3, Newell 1, and Lorber 14. The largest of these Ptolemy II
bronzes weight about 100g.

There have been larger circulating coins throughout history, as has
been mentioned. Not in my collection though. g

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I can't remember who has one of the Yap 'coins', but I think it is
either Ed Rochette, or Ken Hallenbeck.

Do I get a prize if I can tell you why the coin has those marks in the
centre of both sides? :-) Billy

wrote in message
...
Here's a twist to this thread. It's is in fact arguable that the
"coin" under question isn't a coin at all but rather a bullion piece.
So here's the largest circulating coin, a piece used as real money, in
my own collection:

http://reidgold.home.comcast.net/~re...my_II_AE46.jpg

It's a two-thousand-year-old bronze of Ptolemy II, one of the
Macedonian kings of Egypt in the period after the conquests of
Alexander the Great. Silver was scarce in Egypt, with no native silver
mines, so they used these very large bronze coins to supplement the
silver coins they minted with imported silver. This particular piece
measures 46mm in diameter, is about 6mm thick, and weighs 86.7g. It
was minted in Alexandria c. 265-246 BC and can be attributed no doubt
among other was as Sear 7782, Svoronos 412, SNG Cop. 141, SNG Milano
69-70, BMC 159-163, Mørkholm 301, Noeske 63, Weiser 19-21, Visoná/
Getty 1-3, Newell 1, and Lorber 14. The largest of these Ptolemy II
bronzes weight about 100g.

There have been larger circulating coins throughout history, as has
been mentioned. Not in my collection though. g

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On Sun, 1 Jun 2008 21:43:52 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

Here's a twist to this thread. It's is in fact arguable that the
"coin" under question isn't a coin at all but rather a bullion piece.
So here's the largest circulating coin, a piece used as real money, in
my own collection:

http://reidgold.home.comcast.net/~re...my_II_AE46.jpg

It's a two-thousand-year-old bronze of Ptolemy II, one of the
Macedonian kings of Egypt in the period after the conquests of
Alexander the Great. Silver was scarce in Egypt, with no native silver
mines, so they used these very large bronze coins to supplement the
silver coins they minted with imported silver. This particular piece
measures 46mm in diameter, is about 6mm thick, and weighs 86.7g. It
was minted in Alexandria c. 265-246 BC and can be attributed no doubt
among other was as Sear 7782, Svoronos 412, SNG Cop. 141, SNG Milano
69-70, BMC 159-163, Mørkholm 301, Noeske 63, Weiser 19-21, Visoná/
Getty 1-3, Newell 1, and Lorber 14. The largest of these Ptolemy II
bronzes weight about 100g.

There have been larger circulating coins throughout history, as has
been mentioned. Not in my collection though. g

How large (in mm) were the trade dollars?

The largest coins I have are more silver bullion than they are NCLT.
Even though they have face value in the country they were minted you
would certainly not want to spend them for that value.

On Jun 2, 2:19 pm, "note.boy" wrote:

Do I get a prize if I can tell you why the coin has those marks in the
centre of both sides? :-) Billy

As you no doubt know there are a number of competing theories about
the centration dimple on these and a few other ancient coins type. But
it would be interesting to hear what theory you support.

I've read a lot about this, mostly online but in print as well, but I
haven't formally written about these large Ptolemaic bronzes (I plan
to), so I haven't taken the time to thoroughly think through the
various arguments and decide which one I support. g

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On Jun 2, 3:15 pm, Jon Purkey wrote:

How large (in mm) were the trade dollars?

U.S. trade dollars were nowhere near this large. According to the Red
Book, they measure 38.1mm in diameter and weight 27.22g. They're not
even the largest U.S. silver dollar. Flowing Hair and Draped Bust
dollars measure between 39 and 40mm in diameter (no restraining collar
was used in their minting, so the diameter wasn't fixed), though
they're slightly lighter than Trade dollars at 26.96g. The ubiquitous
Morgans are the same diameter as Trade dollars but lighter at 26.73g.

I put together a list a while back of the largest circulating coins
throughout history (I've got two, the Ptolemy II and Bust dollar):

* Yap coins -- bolder-sized disks as large as 12 feet in diameter,
still used today on Yap, an island in the South Pacific
* Swedish plate money -- rectangular, about two feet by one foot (620
mm x 330 mm) and weighing more than 40 pounds (19.7 kg), made of
copper, and minted in Sweden from 1644 to 1645
* Ancient Roman Aes Grave decussis (ten asses) cast bronzes issued
from 225 to 211 BC -- 2650 grams (nearly six pounds avoirdupois)
* Ancient Roman Aes Signatum cast bronze rectangular currency issued
from 265 to 242 BC -- 17 x 9cm (6-1/2 x 3-1/2 inches) and 1,700g
* Ancient Roman Aes Grave tressis cast bronzes issued from 280 to 211
BC -- largest 100mm in diameter and 810g (nearly two pounds
avoirdupois)
* German multiple thalers issued in the 17th and 18th centuries --
100mm (4 inches) in diameter
* Spanish silver 50 reales issued in the 17th century -- 72mm in
diameter
* Panamanian 20 Balboas issued in the 1970s -- 61mm and 129.59g, the
largest pocket-sized circulating modern coin
* Russian Catherine the Great 5 roubles (dates of issue?) -- 50mm
* Siberian 10 kopecs issued between 1763 and 1781 -- 48-50mm in
diameter
* Ptolemy II bronze issued between 285 and 246 BC -- 46mm in diameter
and up to 96g
* English "Cartwheel" tuppence of 1797 -- 41mm in diameter, 5.22mm
thick, 56.67g
* Flowing Hair and Draped Bust U.S. dollars -- 39 to 40mm in diameter,
the largest circulating U.S. coin (later silver dollars, up to the
Eisenhower, are 38.1mm)

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wrote in message
...
On Jun 2, 2:19 pm, "note.boy" wrote:

Do I get a prize if I can tell you why the coin has those marks in the
centre of both sides? :-) Billy

As you no doubt know there are a number of competing theories about
the centration dimple on these and a few other ancient coins type. But
it would be interesting to hear what theory you support.

I've read a lot about this, mostly online but in print as well, but I
haven't formally written about these large Ptolemaic bronzes (I plan
to), so I haven't taken the time to thoroughly think through the
various arguments and decide which one I support. g

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A long time ago I read that the blanks were heated prior to striking and the
central marks are tong marks left after striking of course. Billy

On Jun 3, 4:23 pm, "note.boy" wrote:

A long time ago I read that the blanks were heated prior to striking and the
central marks are tong marks left after striking of course. Billy

One theory. g

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