Two common coins showing an ear of barley. They are always available at an affordable price, their average value being around 1000 Swiss francs. Their place of origin is also southern Italy, in Metapontum, 520-515 BC. The single grains of the ear of barley are so perfectly formed. These coins were struck in a technique similar to that of mediaeval bracteates. The obverse is convex , the reverse concave. The coin image is struck on both sides, which only occurred in this region of south Italy in the period around 500 BC.