Obverse: The Face of a Gorgo
Reverse: Cruciform Incuse Square with a Pellet at the Cente
Mysia was an ancient district in northwest Anatolia (modern Turkey) adjoining the Sea of Marmara on the north and the Aegean Sea on the west. A vague inland perimeter was bounded by the districts of Lydia on the south and Phrygia and Bithynia on the east. Mysia designated a geographic rather than a political territory and encompassed Aeolis, Troas, and the region surrounding the great city-state Pergamum. Homer mentioned the Mysians (for whom the region was named) as primitive allies of the Trojans, but historically there is no record of their action as an independent nation. Mysia was ruled successively by Lydia, Persia, and Pergamum, after which it was incorporated into the Roman province of Asia (129 B.C.).

How many hands have touched a coin in your pocket or purse? What eras and lands have the coin traversed on its journey into our possession? As we reach into our pockets to pull out some change, we rarely hesitate to think of who might have touched the coin before us, or where the coin will venture to after it leaves our hands. More than money, coins are a symbol of the state that struck them, of a specific time and location, whether contemporary currencies or artifacts of long forgotten empires. This stunning hand-struck coin reveals an expertise of craftsmanship and intricate sculptural detail that is often lacking in contemporary machine-made currencies. This magnificent coin is a memorial to the ancient glories of Parion and greater Mysia passed down from the hands of civilization to civilization, from generation to generation.