Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
10 Euros Ptolemy's Astrolabe
| Issuer | Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 2025 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Euro (2002-date) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The obverse depicts a stylised plan view of Ptolemy's astrolabe rendered in high relief, its concentric graduated rings, rete projections, and alidade arm radiating dynamically across the field. At the centre, a circular medallion bears the Greek national coat of arms — a white cross on a blue shield encircled by a wreath — surrounded by the legend ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΑ and the denomination 10 ΕΥΡΩ. The outer rim is bounded by a finely milled border with a toothed scale referencing the instrument's degree markings. The overall design evokes the precision and geometry of ancient astronomical instrumentation. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΑ 10 ΕΥΡΩ |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Part of Greece's ongoing "Sciences of the Ancient Greeks" series, this issue commemorates the astrolabe — an instrument whose attribution to Ptolemy or his immediate circle remains contested among historians of ancient technology, though its theoretical foundations are traceable to his Planisphaerium. The Bank of Greece has used the series to anchor modern numismatic output to a recoverable national intellectual identity, particularly relevant given the sovereign debt crisis that nearly ended Greek euro coinage entirely in the early 2010s.
KM#409 assigns this a relatively late catalog position within Greek euro commemoratives, reflecting just how extensively Athens has mined ancient scientific heritage as a mint theme since the mid-2000s.