Dolphin

Olbia's dolphin-shaped bronzes are among the earliest true coins produced on the northern Black Sea coast, issued before the city adopted conventional round coinage. Whether they functioned as currency proper or as votive objects — dolphins held sacred significance to Apollo, Olbia's patron deity — remains genuinely debated. The city's position at the mouth of the Bug River made it the dominant Greek emporium in the region, and these pieces likely circulated alongside conventional Greek silver in mercantile transactions with Scythian traders.