Description

290-260 BC Illyria Apollonia AR Drachm Ariston (Moneyer) Ainea (Magistrate) cow left (G286Y)

Weight: 3.19 grams
Diameter: 15.75 mm

Cow left, calf right, dot border
Curved, double-stellate pattern, vertical single device line, petal rays, triple dots, line borderIllyria-Apollonia and Dyrrhachium
Apollonia and Dyrrhachium were towns on the Illyrian coast of the Adriatic Sea. A numismatist, Dr. Gyula Petrányi, has done a lot of work documenting this area of coinage and has been assisting me in gaining a greater understanding of the coins in our collection. Thanks Dr. Petrányi!

The D3 class is characterized by a single symbol on the obverse and is usually in the exergue. A long Alkaios series covers this class with very few other names on the obverse and usually without an obverse border. Later coins with single symbol in the exergue usually have a border of dots and the style is less fine than the earlier classes.

The coins in the earlier classes did not spread through the Balkan region as much as the later, more common classes. Also, the only means to differentiate the early pieces with cow right and straight-line reverse is if the APOL or DYR is discernable. These coins only circulated within and between the two cities and their territories and were not exported. The double-separation line on the reverse is found more frequently on the earlier pieces than the later examples.

Dr. Petrányi’s description of the reverse device lines comes from the observation of many pieces and some characteristics can be misleading in worn pieces. Late Apolloniate coins can be petals or drumsticks. Late Dyrrhachian coins are exclusively drumsticks. Early pieces can be either petal or tadpole forms.

Dr. Petrányi’s chronological classification table is:

Apollonia Classes (cow faces right or left):

AR1) Cow right, obverse name abbreviated
AR2) Cow right, full obverse name, no symbols
AR3) Cow right, full obverse name, symbols or monograms
ALs) Cow left, straight stellate reverse design
ALc1) Cow left, concave stellate reverse design, symbols on obverse, V-type alpha
ALc2a) Cow left, concave stellate reverse design, no symbols on obverse, monogram sometimes in exergue, A-type alpha, drumstick rays
ALc2b) Cow left, concave stellate reverse design, no symbols on obverse, monogram sometimes in exergue, A-type alpha, petal rays

Dyrrhachium Classes (cow always faces right):

D1a) Obverse name abbreviated, abstract style
D1b) Obverse name abbreviated, classic style
D2) Full obverse name, no symbols
D3) Symbol in exergue
D4) Multiple symbols, many obverses with same reverse