Nomos 38

CIMMERIAN BOSPOROS. Theodoseia. Circa 400-375 BC. Drachm (Silver, 17 mm, 5.00 g, 6 h). Bearded head of Ares to left, wearing a crested Attic helmet. Rev. ΘΕΟΔΟ Bull's head facing, adorned with fillets hanging from his horns. Anokhin 73. HGC 7, -. Kovalenko-Molchanov -, but cf. pl. 2, d. MacDonald 90 (same dies). Shonob, pl. H, 108. SNG BM Black Sea -. Extremely rare, apparently the second, and finer, example known. With an elegant and refined portrait of Ares and a powerful bull's head. Attractively toned. Very slight porosity, otherwise, good extremely fine.

Theodoseia (modern Feodosia, medieval Caffa, in the Crimea) was founded as a colony by Miletos in the 6th century BC. It was well-known thanks to its agricultural riches. Almost all the surviving examples of the city's coinage are bronze, as would be suitable for an agricultural settlement. Its very rare silver coinage, of which this is a prime example, must have been issued primarily out of civic pride, rather than economic necessity. Later, as Caffa, the city was infamous for having helped introduce the Black Plague to Europe. Later still, the city was a great center of the Slave Trade (but since it was not the Atlantic Slave Trade no one cares).