| Descripción del anverso |
Octopus rendered in a stylized archaic manner, displayed frontally at center with a rounded body and seven radiating tentacles spreading across the field. The tentacles are depicted with sinuous, curvilinear lines characteristic of Etruscan die-cutting of the late 5th century BC. The design is boldly executed within the confines of the small flan, with the cephalopod motif serving as the primary identifying device of this Populonian emission. |
| Escritura del anverso |
Inicie sesión para ver los detalles |
| Leyenda del anverso |
Inicie sesión para ver los detalles |
| Descripción del reverso |
Uniface; the reverse is entirely blank, showing only the rough, unworked surface of the silver flan resulting from the hammered striking process. No design, inscription, or incuse punch is present. |
| Escritura del reverso |
Inicie sesión para ver los detalles |
| Leyenda del reverso |
Inicie sesión para ver los detalles |
| Canto |
Inicie sesión para ver los detalles |
| Casa de moneda |
Inicie sesión para ver los detalles |
| Tirada |
Inicie sesión para ver los detalles |
Populonia, the only Etruscan city known to have struck its own coinage directly from locally smelted ore, drew on iron deposits from the nearby island of Elba. The octopus series is among its earliest silver issues, and the choice of a cephalopod motif — shared with several Greek coastal mints — suggests commercial contact with Magna Graecia rather than purely indigenous iconographic tradition.
The seven-tentacle variant is catalogued separately from the eight-tentacle dies, a distinction that matters: these are not damage or wear anomalies but deliberate or at least consistent die differences across identifiable groups.