Olbia
[IACP 690]

Triton XVI, Lot: 21. Estimate $2000. Sold for $1300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SKYTHIA, Olbia. Circa 470-460 BC. Cast Æ (45mm, 82.28 g). Head of Athena left, wearing Attic helmet; to left, dolphin upward; all within incuse circle / Wheel with four spokes (‘solar disk’). Anokhin 157; Karyshkovskij –; Frolova & Abramzon 139 corr. (no letters on rev.[?]); SNG BM Black Sea –; SNG Pushkin –; SNG Stancomb –; Sutzu II –. Good Fine, untouched, “as found” thick rough green patina. Extremely rare, approximately only 4 of this type known, 2 of which are in museums.

From the Alex Shubs Collection.

Olbia was settled by Milesian colonists in the early sixth century BC (Eusebius’ date of 647/6 BC is now thought to refer to the foundation of Olbia’s neighbor, and later emporion, Borysthenes), near the confluence of the Hypanis and Borysthenes rivers. The earliest coinage of the city, considered by some to be proto-money, was cast bronze in the form of dolphins, which was likely developed as a local trade coinage in the vein of the cast arrowhead money of Borysthenes, which was already in widespread use in the region. The earliest of these coins had dolphins on both sides, but on later issues one side was flat and usually had some lettering. While Olbia is thought to have had an aristocratic constitution from its beginning, this government form was replaced by a tyranny circa 480 BC. Herodotos (4.78–80) and numismatic evidence also suggests that in the early to mid-fifth century Olbia was under the protection of the Skythian king Skylas, though all of his coinage is known from the city of Nikonion (see Lot 104, below). Olbia became a member of the Delian League after 437 BC, and democratic control was reestablished by the early 4th century. There is abundant epigraphic and archaeological evidence for the presence of numerous patron deities, but the most significant of these was Apollo Delphinios, whose cult became preeminent at Olbia from the late 6th century.

Olbia was one of the most prolific issuers of coinage in the region, and its issues span the length of its early history, lasting well into the Roman period. As mentioned above, the earliest coinage consisted of cast bronze dolphins, which was followed by large cast bronzes with the head of Athena and a dolphin on the obverse, and a four-spoke wheel (or solar disc) on the reverse. These were later succeeded by other cast bronzes with a facing gorgoneion on the obverse and a sea-eagle holding a dolphin on the reverse. This reverse image became an archetype that appeared on numerous issues over the next couple centuries. Most of the subsequent issues in the pre-Roman period featured the portrait of one of the city’s patron deities on the obverse, and either that or another deity’s attributes on the reverse. The portrait and attributes of the city’s primary patron deity, Apollo Delphinios, are featured on some of the city’s coinage, but Demeter, another of the city patrons, is far more common on the various denominations. Other deities found on Olbia’s coins include Zeus, Athena, and Herakles. The river-god Borysthenes also features prominently on the large issues of the late 4th-early 3rd centuries. One of the most interesting aspects of Olbian coinage is the existence of a fairly large civic gold issue in the later fourth century BC, which consisted of two denominations, staters and hemidrachms, struck on the Attic standard. While other northwestern Black Sea cities struck rare gold issues, they were almost exclusively royal issues struck for various dynasts, or else military issues of posthumous Lysimachos type. Olbia also struck a variety of silver issues, usually in multiple denominations, at various times from the later 4th to 2nd centuries BC.

THE FOLLOWING GOES AFTER THE LOT

Anokhin 155–7 lists a multi-denominational issue of these “wheel” coins that have no magistrate’s name. It is questionable, however, whether the absence of the name is not due to the poor condition of the coins listed. All of the other authors do not list any coins without a magistrate’s name (the Frolova & Abramzon coin is also of poor quality), and the coarse condition of the patina on this and the following coin could easily be obscuring a name.