Drachm

Samos in the late sixth century BC was among the wealthiest poleis in the Aegean, largely through maritime trade and the patronage of Polycrates, whose tyranny from roughly 535 BC brought the island to its political and commercial peak. These early electrum and silver issues circulated through a trading network that stretched from Egypt to the Black Sea. The lion's scalp type to which this drachm belongs is among the earliest coinages attributable to the island with confidence.

Polycrates was captured and crucified by the Persian satrap Oroetes around 522 BC, ending the period this coin inhabits.