Description
The Greeks of ancient Olbia, on the Western coast of the Black Sea, did not mint round coins to use as currency. Instead, they cast bronze proto-money in the shape of the bottle-nosed dolphins that swam in the Black Sea. Dolphins, Delphinus in Greek, are sacred fish in Greek
mythology.
Because these dolphin bronzes date to the fifth century BC, they are quite crude. But the shape of the proto-money is
unmistakable. NOTE: NO TWO LOOK LIKE. THERE IS A WIDE VARIETY.
