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Obverse Vs Reverse

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ecoli:
Yet another stupid question:

For the coin below, which side is generally considered obverse and which the reverse?

Does a standard exist?

Jochen:
Hi ecoli!

The answer to your question is not so easy. In the ancient numismatic the definition of obv. and rev. depends on the technology of minting.

In just a few words, a coin is produced by inserting a piece of metal, called blank (1) between two dies (2a,b). One of the dies is fixed (in a type of anvil setup), the other is mobile, held by a worker with tongues. With his other hand the worker (or another worker) applies a hammer blow to the mobile die and the engravings of the dies are transferred in positive to the blank resulting in a coin (3). Another blank is positioned and struck, and so on.
Please look at
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/forvm/Collectors_Resources.html
under 'How does a brockage occur'

The die under the flan always(?) wears the obverse depiction, the die above the flan is always the reverse. So is the standard definition for Greek and Republican coins!

In imperial times it depends on the face of the emperor. Obv. is always the side with the bust of the emperor. Are there busts on each side, then the higher valued emperor defines the obv.
 
But how we can tell from a coin? If you look at your coin you can see that the side with the helmeted Athena is arched concave. So it should be due to the definition the upper side = the reverse. But if we look at the importance of the depictions, there are no doubts that this is the obverse not the rev.!

Regards

bpmurphy:
Jochen,

Good explanation. Your last sentence though is incorrect. While the Athena side would appear more important to us today, in ancient times the Pegasus side was clearly the more important side on this coin. First it bears the L identifying the city of issue. Second and more importantly, Pegasus featured prominently on the other coinage of Leukas, smaller denominations and bronze coins, while Athena was only seen sporadically. Thus the ancient Leukans more clearly identified with Pegasos, not Athena.

Barry Murphy

Jochen:
Thanks for the correction! I confess, I have had difficulties with my explanation too!

ecoli:
Thank you Jochen and Barry for the explenation.

I think in the States at least, people are very influenced by the concept of "heads and tails" with regards to coins of every type.

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