TYPE Ancient Greece, Olbia (Sarmatia), ca. 400-380 BC, bronze AE8 DESCRIPTION . Obv: Head of Apollo (?) right Rev: Two dolphins swimming r., ear of barley in upper left field, Greek legend below [OLBI] REFERENCE: cf. An 57-8, cf. LE 690 GRADING: F , rough dark patina, old edge chip, very scarce ORDER INFO: G1935, $28 A slightly better than average specimen of what probabaly qualifies as the smallest Greek circulating bronze coin (with a typically oversized obverse die). While the impracticality of successively smaller precious metal (chiefly, silver) fractions led to the introduction of token coinage (first in 5th c. BC Sicily, and shortly elsewhere) of substantial size, the insistence on such minuscule bronzes in certain locations remains unclear. Despite some recent finds, the type remains absent in most major published collections, and thus still generally scarce. Coupling the rather shoddy workmanship with the size, would suggest a kind of pocket change for daily needs of what was apparently a busy trading center.