In my neverlasting search for an old greek coin (AG) with the spartan helmet on it I stumble on coins being made of ELECTRUM. Looking more closely at the price and the colour of these Electrum coins I suspected they contained gold next to another metal. Here Wikipedia brings help.
First two examples for the colour variation; both cost 700 EUR on MA-shops.com
What is electrum?
Electrum is an alloy of gold and silver and some copper. (It also is a crypto coin I read)
In Western Anatolia (now Turkey) it was found and there it contained 70-90% gold while in Lydia (SW Turkey near Ephesus ) it contained 45-55% gold.
More important the first ever coins were made of electrum and the Egyptians plated the top of their obelisks with it and even a top of an pyramid. The anatoly region and neighbouring Thracia ( the one I look for) for this natural reason were early with making coins too.
example of an Ephesus coin of 600 BC:
If you have a spare 6000 USD you can buy this Carthago (North Africa) coin of electrum
[source ma-shops.com)
I am not gonna discuss MENE but the wiki page says that electrum was much more suited for coinage as it as much harder and durable than pure gold. For jewelry mene might be fine.
The coins made with it were 1/3 STATERS of 4,7 gramm each ( stater meaning standard) . One stater would be a month pay for a soldier. Smaller coins were triters (thirds) and hekte (sixth)
So having read all this new info it is time for me for a coffee and to continue the search for a - affordable - Macedonian helmet coin.
Goldrooster