Nomos 2

THRACE, Apollonia Pontika. Mid 4th century BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 16.83 g 7). Laureate head of Apollo to right. Rev. [...]ΥΣΤΡΑΤΟ... Anchor; to left, Α; to right, crayfish. For similar obverse dies cf. BMFA 797 and SNG Copenhagen 455, otherwise, apparently unpublished and with an unknown magistrate’s name. Very rare. With a rather rustic, albeit attractive style, undoubtedly engraved by a local die cutter. Traces of corrosion on the reverse, otherwise, extremely fine.

The coinage of Apollonia Pontika, the modern day Sozopol in Bulgaria, a sea side resort, is very extensive but, in part, little known. It produced an extensive tetradrachm coinage in the mid 4th century BC, which featured a head of Apollo on their obverses and the city’s symbol, an anchor, on the reverses. These coins were modeled on coins from the Greek mainland but they were clearly produced by local artisans who were basically provincial in their skills. Nevertheless, the coins have a charm of their own as a representative of an outpost of Hellenism surrounded by more primitive peoples.