Catalog
Drachm
| Issuer | Istros |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Silver |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A sea-eagle displayed to the left, wings spread and talons firmly grasping a dolphin, which is depicted curving beneath the bird's body. In the lower field below the eagle and dolphin group appears the magistrate's monogram or abbreviation ΦΥ, serving as a control mark. The design is rendered in high relief with bold, confident engraving characteristic of Istrian coinage of the 4th–3rd centuries BC. The city ethnic ΙΣΤΡΗ appears in the upper field. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | ΙΣΤΡΗ, ΦΥ below |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
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| Additional information |
Istros, a Milesian colony on the western Black Sea coast near the Danube delta, produced this drachm type during the 4th–3rd centuries BC when the city controlled significant grain and fish trade routes feeding the Greek world. The peculiar double-facing obverse heads on this type — inverted relative to one another — have generated debate for over a century, with theories ranging from the Dioscuri to the twin mouths of the Istros river itself. No consensus has landed.
AMNG I-I#425 places this within Pick's foundational 1898 corpus, still the primary reference for Thracian and Moesian civic coinage.