picked up a couple of these little bronze dolphin guys....cute! they are pretty inexpensive and there are plenty on the market, so why not. neither of them show perfect left/right symmetry...but this guy is very off. eye larger, different place, different snout. these things are smaller than i thought, the largest is 24 mm head to tail (straight measure) and 1.6 g, the smaller is 20 mm and 0.8 g. there isn't much info on these online. they come from a greek colony on the black sea called olbia. there is a large range of dates for when they were produced ranging form the 6th century to the 3rd century. i think mine are 4th century. they come in a number of different sizes and shapes, and some have text (dare i say a legend?) on them. here is the wildwinds page with some of the larger ones and other coins from the area... http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/sarmatia/olbia/t.html they seem to think they were possibly money and/or some type of religious item..associated with apollo. other than that...i don't know much about these things. i''d love to hear from those that do.
I have some reeeeeaaaaly crappy ones I could not give away on the 'bay. Yours are quite nice. I am always unsure of the authenticity of these. There seems to be inordinate about of these are the market. Your Dolphins are quite awesome. Great nice sharp photos too!
Seeing your photos makes me actually want one. Ive never bothered cause of fear of fakes mostly. Plus from what I read, most arent "perfect".
Yes, they were standard coins in Olbia, along with some other non-traditional looking coins. The most expensive ones have OLBIA on the coin. The next most expensive ones have eyes and full tail fins.
Every dealer seems to have a handful of these. They're cute, and yours actually looks like a dolphin. Many don't.
yes.... seems the consensus for the type i have is 5th century. these are in pretty good shape, which made me go for them. i don't know about authenticity, they are plentiful so i wasn't to worried about them being fake...but am not certain. yeah dough, probably not much roll-hunting in ancient olbia. here's the attribution for the first ("nosey") Olbia, Sarmatia, c.5th Century B.C. Bronze cast dolphin, SGCV 1684 var here is the attribution for the second one ("dumpy") Olbia, Sarmatia, c. 5th Century B.C. Bronze cast dolphin, SGCV 1684 var seems they are a variety of the same type.
Yours are examples of the small, less expensive types. SGCV references a larger coin actually. They made these in many sizes, with the tiniest being by far the most common. Frank Robinson sells these in his fixed price portion of his ancient list.
ok, thanks med. i was going of some listings i found acsearch for the attribution, i'll just leave that off my flip insert. and thanks for comments everyone.
med, how about BMC Thrace Sarmatia 19? the seller had that on the flip insert and i didn't notice at first.
The bottom one, in the first photograph, reminds me of a partially surfaced crocodile looking right. If that's not enough, I have some great comments about the ink blot test I took at the asylum. :>) :>( [_"_]
very cool ... oh, and very gutsy (I sometimes look at off-the-beaten-track ancients bobbles, but I usually don't take a risk) ... it is awesome to see "us dudes" take a gamble every now and then (total points, my friend!!) Ummm ... I guess the closest I've come to gambling is going for some scarubs? ... yah, it's all about me, eh? (anyway => they are kinda cool, no?) cheers, dawg (great new adventure-score => I'm given ya full-points!!) 2nd Intermediate Period Steatite scarab Circa 1650-1550 BC Diameter: 21 x 15 mm Obverse: Base engraved with two crocodiles back-to-back. Intact, once glazed, pierced for mounting. From the David Hendin Collection m the David Hendin Collection 2nd Intermediate Period Steatite scarab Circa 1650-1550 BC Diameter: 23 x 16 mm Obverse: Base engraved with an antelope walking right; palm branches in field. A few minor chips and cracks, otherwise intact, part of greenish-brown glaze remaining, pierced for mounting. From the David Hendin Collection
Either is fine sir. Sear Greek does not list the different varieties of these. Both attributions are fine. I wasn't trying to be critical, just point out the Sear example was of the larger varieties. Back when Sear wrote his Greek book, the Iron curtain was still up and the large quantities of these hadn't hit the western market yet. We have learned a lot more about Olbia after the fall of the Soviets.
