Not really a coin: Sarmatia, Olbia proto-money Dolphin

This is a departure from my normal routine. I didn't have any proto-money before, so I bought this one from the UK. I could have bought it in the US, very cheaply too on FORVM, but those usually come broken up and in poor condition. I wanted my dolphin to be complete. At least it was free shipping.

Feel free to comment about my dolphin.

Anyway, show your proto-money dolphins (broken or intact), coins with dolphins, or other forms of proto-money (ie. hack silver, bars, etc).

 

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That's a great example.

 

When they are complete with tail, and my daughter's has a dorsal fin, they get pretty pricey.

 

That's a beauty!

 

If you look at 10,000 of thesee you may see one that looks like a dolphin. Mine needs a tail.

The other common one is a leaf.

 

@scottishmoney , is your daughter a mermaid ?

Sallent, thats a great example of an Olbia dolphin , nice color too.

I have a pot of 20 Olbia Dolphins , this one escaped, its a very rough example.

 

Great find. As Doug says, you need to search quite a few of these to find ones that look like dolphins.

 

Damn I've never seen one that wasn't green. Thinking that I should look at them more often.

 

This is true...the seller described the OP proto-money as AU-52. LOL.

The vcoins store, NumisCorner, has great stuff, but he grades all his coins things like MS-65, MS-62, AU-55, etc. It's hilarious, but still worth checking out his inventory on vcoins despite the laughable modern grades he gives to everything.

 

This thread is becoming infested with dolphins.

Thankfully I have a pet dolphin-killing eagle to take care of the problem.

 

Really cool score Sallent. Was this on your list or a target of opportunity?

 

It was on my list. I wanted to expand my collection to proto-money, so I was looking for either one of these dolphins or a piece of Celtic hack silver. Eventually I'd love to own various examples of ancient proto-money...and there are some really interesting varieties out there to chose from.

 

I just posted mine in the olbia thread, so i'll post a bad joke instead..

 

I too recently picked up a piece of proto-money, my first. But I'm holding off sharing it until it arrives.

 

PROTO-MONIES:

DOLPHINS:



Thrace - Olbius AE Dolphin money



CELTIC:

Celtic AE Ring 800-500 BCE


CHINA:

China Zhou -Chou- 1000-200 BCE Dynasty Bronze cowrie - VF - Rare


China Cowrie Shell Pottery


China Zhou Dyn 1122-255 BC AE Chuan Bead Money 40mm



China Shang Dyn 1766-1154 BC Ant Nose Ge Liu Zhu 2-6g 19-5x11 very scarce H 1-10

 

ITALIA-OSCAN:


ITALIA Aes Formatum AE Bronze Ax Head ca 5th-4th C BCE sextans size 44.8mm 56g



Oscan-Latin Aes Formatum shell with Ribs 4th C. BCE



Oscan-Latin Aes Formatum shell 25mm 12.8g.JPG



Italia Aes Rude - bronze ca 5th-4th Century BCE 29.7mm 32.4g

 

Thats a nice one

 

Never saw a better Olbia dolphin, with that elegant tail.

 

Both of these are 29mm.
If you look in Sear #1684, he lists them at something like £200. Not too long ago they were very expensive, now you can find them everywhere.