Coins of The Bosporan Kingdom
Although considered somewhat exotic prior to the demise of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Bosporan coins are now well known on the international coin markets, hinting at the quantities produced. Several large series were produced by Bosporan cities from the 5th century BCE, particularly in Panticapaeum. Gold staters of Panticapaeum bearing Pan's head and a griffin are especially remarkable for their weight and fine workmanship.
There are coins with the names of the later Spartocids and a complete series of dated solidi issued by the later or Achaemenian dynasty. In them may be noticed the swift degeneration of the gold solidus through silver and potin to bronze.
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Famous quotes containing the words coins and/or kingdom:
“No Time, spoke the clocks, no God, rang the bells,
I drew the white sheet over the islands
And the coins on my eyelids sang like shells.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“The kingdom of our Prospero, Freud, now dissolves in air.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)