Æ 16mm 2.81g 12h
Kabyle, circa 277-260 BCE
Bust of Skostokos to right, wearing torque / Horseman charging right with flying mantle; ΣΚΟ[ΣΤΟΚΟΣ] below.
SNG Stancomb 300; Peter 1997, p. 219; Draganov, Cabyle, 1997, Type 1, 27-45; HGC 3.2, 1475
WildWinds plate coin
Ex Numismatics Lanz Munich 2007
Ex Heidelberger Münzhandlung Herbert Grün e.K. 2014
One day, Skostokos decided he wanted to mint some coins, so he saved up some money from pillaging and plundering, hired a die maker, and created these bronze coins. He also did some silver ones too, except those were super expensive to produce, so he just took some from another guy named Lysimachos and stamped his name on them.
The coins were delivered to the village, and everyone who valued living agreed that they were most spectacular and remarked how handsome Skostokos looked. Of those who used these bronzes was a certain Ralph.
Now Ralph was a very busy guy. Proprietor of the local Bows R’Us, he also ran a mail-order bespoke pottery business and moderated three ThraceBook groups. While rushing to deal with a client who’d somehow shot his foot, Ralph tripped over a small pot and dropped one of Skostokos’ coins into a crack. This ends Ralph’s contribution to history.
Centuries later, another guy was digging where Ralph’s house used to be and found this coin. He gave it to an archeologist, who couldn’t recall ever hearing about Skostokos before.
To this day, we know nothing about Skostokos. We don’t know his favorite color, preferred Netflix shows, or even exactly where and when he lived. Every single detail we know are from his coins. We know he lived around Thrace, was called Skostokos, and looked roughly like this portrait.