Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Stater
| Issuer | Olbia (Skythia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 320 BC - 315 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Aeginetic drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Bare head of Demeter facing left, rendered in the Greek provincial style of the late Classical period. The goddess is adorned with a wreath of grain ears crowning her flowing hair, which falls in wavy locks behind the neck. The facial features are finely modelled with a straight nose and parted lips, characteristic of the engraving tradition of the northern Black Sea colonies. The field is plain, with no surrounding legend or border of dots. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | ΟΛBIO |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Olbia, the Greek colony at the mouth of the Bug and Dnieper rivers, occupied an uneasy position on the northwestern Pontic steppe — trading partner and frequent tribute-payer to the Scythian chieftains who controlled the surrounding territory. This stater belongs to a late phase of Olbian silver coinage, issued during a period when the city was navigating the collapse of Scythian political dominance following the Macedonian campaigns of Philip II and later Zopyrion's disastrous expedition into the region around 331 BC.
The Anokhin and Frolova-Abramzon references place this type firmly within a compressed emission window, suggesting limited output rather than a sustained mint program.