Material: Fine silver Diameter: 21 mm Weight: 12.4 g
It is not clear why tortoises appear on coins from Aegina; they were not sacred animals. One theory is that the pre-coinage silver bars used in the Aegean region had a flat convex shape and were colloquially called "tortoises" on Aegina. Thus, when coins were introduced, the use of tortoise shells as a coin type was a reference to the older bars of pure silver that were previously used in commerce.
