MOESIA. Istros. Circa mid 5th century BC. Didrachm (Silver, 20 mm, 7.87 g, 11 h), Attic standard. Two facing male heads side by side, one upright and the other inverted. Rev. IΣTPI Sea eagle standing left on dolphin; all within incuse square. AMNG -. BMC -. SNG BM -. SNG Stancomb -. SNG Copenhagen -. Cf Gorny & Mosch 181 (2009), 1200 (Drachm) and 229 (2015), 1130 (Didrachm). Extremely rare and of great interest. Somewhat granular and the reverse with some smoothing, otherwise, very fine.


The style and the reverse incuse of the earliest Istros silver coinage indicate a production date of around the mid 5th century BC. The issue is composed of Didrachms and Drachms to the attic weight standard, undoubtedly an adaptation to Athens as the dominant Black Sea trading power of the era.