1/12 Stater Miletos to good ?

[Smulan]

Hello,
I bought this coin but when investigate it closely it looks almost to good. Is there 1/12 staters out there in mint condition like this, showing no signs of wear and tear?  /Smulan

[rover1.3]

Is there 1/12 staters out there in mint condition like this, showing no signs of wear and tear?

I think yes.
This is a quite common type, a great opportunity to aquire a nice archaic Greek coin in very good condition. There are many coins out there in similar or even better condition than yours in relative low prices. Your piece shows evidence of crystallization, which is a good sign of authenticity, but seems it makes the coin look unattractive sometimes to some people. I personally think crystallization isn't a visual problem at all on such small diameter coins, i agree it is a very nice example of the type.

Best regards.

[Smulan]

Aha so the ruff surface is crystallisation! As you say this would not show up  much on a small coin like this ( btw the shot is with a 1:1 macro and through a magnifying glass) Nice to have a real coin in the collection for once ;^) Thank you very much Rover and best regards.

[rover1.3]

You are welcome Smulan.

In case you don't already know about it, here is a site dedicated to Milesian types, it gives some details on your type, too.
http://rjohara.net/coins/lion-sun/#section-3b

Best regards

[Smulan]

You are welcome Smulan.

In case you don't already know about it, here is a site dedicated to Milesian types, it gives some details on your type, too.
http://rjohara.net/coins/lion-sun/#section-3b

Best regards

Interesting I thought mine was small but there is even a 1/48 stater in that site !

About crystallisation, is it something that happens over time or did it occur when they made the coin?  /Best regards

[Smulan]

I have once read (i don't remember where) that it is actually the result of the separation of copper and silver grains because of temparature and other factors.

Spot on. I found this:

"Pure silver is relatively soft and would be unsuitable for coins unless it was alloyed with a small amount of copper. The resulting metal is much harder. Copper might also be alloyed to reduce the quantity of silver for financial reasons as it is much cheaper. The separation of copper from its bond with silver in a silver alloy is called the precipitation of copper and leads to a condition called embrittlement. Some coin collectors will often refer to this as crystallization."

[rover1.3]

Exactly. It needs time to develop, so it is considered to be a good sign of authenticity.
I hear very much lately that this characteristic appearance of crystallized coins can be copied by today's high-end forgery methods.
But no details on this, it is a different story anyway, your coin looks absolutely all right, at least to me.

Best regards