Expert: Dmitry Livshits - 9/4/2011

Question
Earlier this year I had bought this coin from Athens, Greece and was wondering what you could tell me about it. On one side it says 'Britannia' and has that person on a chariot holding a trident that appears on many of the Queen Victoria coins. On the other side, there is '1834' and the words IONLKON KΡATOΣ,(the last word meaning state in Greek). On this side also there is an image of a Griffin (a lion crossed with a bird) and is holding what looks like a bag of arrows with a christian cross on it, in it's mouth. The coin is little under a centimetre in width and is bronze in colour. Can you please tell me about this coin because I can't find anything about it on coin registers and am interested to find out why a) "IONLKON KΡATOΣ" Is only half in greek and b) the story behind the coin/ value.
Thanks,
Evelyn, Australia.

Answer
Hi Evelyn,
Your coin is a lepton from the Ionian Islands, while under British administration. They are not particularly rare unless they are in mint condition, but they are popular coins with collectors today. An average circulated coin is worth $20 to $30 for most dates, including 1834. There are a couple of more rare dates in the series, but most of the years there were millions of these coins made.
I would not be able to give you a more exact value without seeing a clear picture of the coin, which you can attach to a follow-up question on this site.
Thanks for the question! =)