• Coin
Coin
Coin
Coin

Object ID
1994.41.16.K
Object Name
Coin
Date Created
1912
Material
Copper; Nickel
Object Entities
Metevilis, Marina (is related to)
Object Description
Silver coin, with hole in the middle. On one side, there is a small, detailed perimeter design, and the coin reads, "Kingdom of Greece" written on the left side of the hole, a royal crown on the right side of the hole, and the year "1912" at the bottom. On the opposite side of the coin, there is the same design along the perimeter. Additionally, there is an Athenian owl perched upon an amphora, on the left side of the hole. Above the hole is the number "5", to the right of the hole is the word, "lepta" in Greek, and at the bottom, in small text, it reads, "CH. Pillet" for the coin's designer - French engraver, Charles Pillet.
Origin
Lepton, is the name of various fractional units of currency used in the Greek-speaking world from antiquity until today. The word means "small" or "thin", and during classical and Hellenistic times a lepton was always a small value coin, usually the smallest available denomination of another currency. The coin in the lesson of the widow's mite is referred to as a lepton.
In modern Greece, Lepton is the name of the 1/100 denomination of all the official currencies of the Greek state: the phoenix (1827–1832), the drachma (1832–2001) and the euro (2002–current) – the name is the Greek form of "euro cent." Its unofficial currency sign is lambda. Until the introduction of the euro, no Greek coin had been minted with a denomination lower than 5 lepta since the late 1870s.
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Citation
Coin, 1912, National Hellenic Museum, https://collections.nationalhellenicmuseum.org/Detail/objects/9983. Accessed 03/29/24.