Identifying This Coin, Please Help! | Dyrrachium Drachm

Hello and welcome.

Your coin is a silver drachm from the ancient Greek colony of Dyrrachium, a city now known as Durres, Albania. The Greek lettering on both sides of your coin are the names of the two magistrates who governed the city at the time the coin was struck. In the case of your coin, their names were Philon and Amynta. Unfortunately, historians have no knowledge of the chronology of the magistrates of this city, so the coin cannot be precisely dated, but it dates from sometime between 230 BC and 30 BC.

Go to this Wildwinds page. Scroll down to the one listed on the left hand side as "Ceka 438" for a coin with Philon's name; Ceka 411 is an example of a coin with Amynta's name. Click the "image" links over on the right hand side to see them, and the "text" links for info about where the coin's picture came from and (usually) how much it sold for.

Coins of Dyrrachium are relatively cheap and common, compared to other late ancient Greek silver coins.

No, they're all silver. Perhaps not very good quality silver (which may be the reason why many I've seen tend to be discoloured) and the silver content may well have decreased over time - we don;t know that, either. But I don't think it affects the value very much. The older coin you posted is also larger, a 10 gram stater rather than a drachm.

With ancient coins, wear, corrosion/damage and centring all affect the value. Your coin is quite well worn and appears to have damage of some kind around the edge. The centring is good and most of the magistrates names are clearly visible, but the abbreviation of the city-name itself, DYR, is worn away. All together, I'd say it's average, or slightly below. Some time ago I paid $50 to a dealer for a Silanos-Aristonos drachm from this city, with the reverse so badly off-centre half the magistrate's name was missing. I think I overpaid.

hehe :D Thank you Sap for the info and everythin else. Wish you all the best