Tetrachalkon - Mithridates VI barbaric imitation

Amisos, the old Greek colony on the Pontic coast, fell firmly within Mithridates VI's sphere by the late second century BC — he refounded it as a royal city and used its mint extensively for his propaganda coinage. These imitative bronzes emerged as that official production broke down, likely during or after Lucullus's campaigns of the 70s BC, when Roman pressure shattered Pontic administrative control and local workshops filled the gap with increasingly loose copies of the royal types.

The barbaric character of these pieces varies considerably across the SNG BM range, and some specialists regard the series as ongoing into the post-Mithridatic period under early Pontic client arrangements.