Two Birds With One Stone (Olbia Dolphins)

Great deal, Finn! Congrats. As I've said before, I love when good things happen to CC-Family members.

I believe dolphin money from Olbia is usually just listed as 5th to 4th century BC, isn't it? I would speculate that the more naturalistic ones, with dorsal fin and eyes, may be from the later part of that range...but that's just an assumption.

There's a decent but short write-up about these at Ancient Imports here: http://www.ancientimports.com/cgi-b...ory.pl?id=79

I've been under the impression that the pretty dolphins are supposed to be earlier than the crude ones, not later.
And I think I've seen attributions of the type pretty much everywhere from 7th to 1st century BC (though the very late attributions are much less common).

There is apparently a connection between the dolphin coins as sacrificial artifacts and their use as currency. See below.

Marc had not done his homework in his writeup on the Olbian dolphins. In fairness, his interest was in selling some coins with a quick story. But the story is actually bigger and more interesting than he could have supposed.


Here is a writeup which, while not authoritative either, takes up some aspects of ancient dolphin lore that I think has connection to things familiar to most collectors.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/front...an/myth.html

Here are two sentences that I think are loaded:
"In later myths, particularly in Roman literature, and again in art and statuary, it is the dolphin that carries souls to the 'Islands of the Blest', and around the Black Sea images of dolphins have been found in the hands of the dead, presumably to ensure their safe passage to the afterlife. Taken together these references seem to point to a deeper association with the processes of life, death and rebirth, perhaps linked to the dolphin's ability to pass between the air-breathing, living world of humans and the suffocating, terrifying world beneath the waves, which for the Greek sailors could easily be identified with the kingdom of the dead. "

I don't like his speculative comments, and lot more background is needed to make a convincing argument out of these claims, but these two points are amplified and illustrated in the article with examples from ancient mythology, and they deserve some consideration. I am particularly impressed by the comment, "images of dolphins have been found in the hands of the dead." Wanna bet that dolphin coins are being referred to here? If that could be established, then it is entirely conceivable that a dolphin (coin) in the hand had the same cultural function as coins on the eyes in other parts of the world at that time (which paid the boatman on the river Styx).

But the parallels in other ancient stories mentioning, or even discussing, dolphins, makes it quite clear that the interest was much more involved than a mere fascination with cavorting animals. These creatures got associated with some very heavy concepts in the ancient world.

The association with Apollo, entirely omitted in Marc's notes, is perhaps the most profound, centered as it is in the Oracle of Delphi. The Greek word delphis with the meaning "dolphin" is a later derivation of the word from its original meaning as "tripod." I think the article gives us some idea of how that change may have come about.

More can be said, but the point is that these coins are not merely cute little ditties from the past, but icons of an involved interplay between images and faith in an antiquity that predates Greek literature and history. It is fascinating stuff.

As a person that spent over 20 years in the sea going services I've had many occasions to see dolphins follow our ship and play . At night laying in my bunk which was below the water line you could hear their chatter. To us the sight of dolphins were always a good sign.

Normal. These were all cast, not struck. The Ancient Imports link I provided, above, describes the casting method.

nice! I picked up a couple of dolphins as well...just to show some of a different style.

Those are some really great dolphins!

And thanks to all for the links to some really great articles. I will be sure to do some digging on the subject on my own, when time permits.