Hemidrachm Dot E/Dot Dolphin

Chersonesos (modern Crimea) issued these fractional silver pieces in enormous quantities throughout the fourth century, functioning as a near-universal trade currency across the Black Sea littoral. The standardized hemidrachm type circulated so widely that it has been recovered from hoards stretching from the Aegean to the northern Pontic steppe — effectively the hard currency of grain merchants supplying Athens during its most grain-dependent decades.

The controlling marks — here a dot flanking the E on one side, a dotted dolphin on the other — served as mint control symbols distinguishing individual emission batches, not separate mints. CN type 6320 places this among dozens of documented control-mark combinations catalogued by Draganov.