CHALKON: COIN OF ANCIENT GREEK CITY-STATE OLBIA (MODERN UKRAINE)
Chalkon (χαλκον), 380-360 BC: city-state Olbia
Spikelet and dolphin to the left; the inscription "ОЛВІО" at the bottom of the coin (a rarer variant: usually the inscription is above the spikelet).
Demeter's head to the left.
Demeter (in ancient Greek religion and mythology) — the Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over grains and the fertility of the earth.
- Copper: 10 mm - 1.43 g
- Reference price: 7$
COIN CHALKON — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- OLBIA (5th-1th centuries BC): chalkon = 1/8 obol = 2 lepton
- CHERSONESOS (5th-2th centuries BC): chalkon = 1/8 obol = 2 lepton...
...AND MANY, MANY OTHER ISSUERS — ancient Greek city-states in Europe, Asia and Africa (including Seleucid Empire, Ptolemaic Kingdom...).
The name of the chalkon (chalkous) coin is almost 100% associated with copper. Thus, in Greek, the word "χαλκος" denotes this metal. For another version, the coin is named after the city of Chalcis, which traded in copper and one of the first released copper coins (as opposed to the oldest metal currencies of gold, silver and electrum).
