5th Century BC
 
Bronze Cast. 1.15g 23mm (7/8 inch). 437-410 BC.

Dolphin left in relief with dorsal fin, pellet shape eye; interesting marks along the top of lateral line resembling/perhaps, greek lettering--surely appears to bean intentional design feature.

Reverse: Dolphin right, flat surface signed ΘY in raised Greek letters.

Choice VF. Dark olive green patina, attractive example featuring a prominent dorsal fin which is often missing or tiny. Charming naturalistic styling.

Ref. SNG BM Black Sea 369; SNG Stancomb 339; Anokhin 180; HGC 3, 1879.

Founded in the late 7th century BC on the coast of present-day Ukraine, Olbia, was a colony of Miletos located at the junction of the Hyspanis and Borysthenes rivers and grew prosperous on trade between the nomadic Scythians and the Greeks. At first, lacking sufficient quantities of silver or gold to institute a precious metal coinage, it instead used an innovative casting technique to produce a sizable and varied coinage in bronze. Among the earliest types is a series of denominations in the shape of dolphins, ranging in size from about 22mm and 1.5 grams to extremely rare large examples upwards of 90mm. This unique type of coinage was cast in Olbia, in the Black Sea area of Thrace from the 5th Century BC. The casting method employed was adopted by the Gallic Celts who originally came from this area.
 Olbia later acquired sufficient silver and gold through trade to institute a precious metal coinage, and is the likely mint spot for the Koson gold staters of the later first century AD.

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