Drachm

Sinope, the dominant Greek colony on the Black Sea's southern shore, controlled the regional silver trade largely through its access to Pontic mining networks and its role as a transshipment hub between the Greek world and the interior of Anatolia. These drachms circulated widely beyond the city itself — Sinopean coins have turned up in hoards as far inland as Cappadocia, suggesting commercial reach well beyond coastal traffic.

The BMC Greek#1 designation places this among the earliest attributed pieces in the British Museum's Sinope sequence, a position reflecting both chronological priority and the relative difficulty of attributing archaic Pontic issues with confidence.