£100 2015, Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben), Heartbeat of the Nation. Two ounce fine silver issue.

This is something you will not see often. These bronze coins from Greek colony city of Olbia in Thrace were cast in the shape of a dolphin! They were made to honour their god Apollo Delphinios. This name is linked to the story of Cretan sailors in a storm who were guided to safety by Apollo shaped as a dolphin, landing at Delphi they became his priests. It also likely that the people were imitating what they saw, there were large numbers of dolphins in the Black Sea and still are today! Playful and intelligent, they would have been as friendly then as they are now. These were cast in bronze in the 5th to 4th centuries B.C., and because of this process do not have a tail. They show the body, the vast majority have the dorsal fin and some will even have eye pellets. As always the first to order will get the best, in this case the shape and features!

Founded in 709 B.C., the ancient city of Parion is the present day town of Kemer in Turkey. The image of the Gorgoneion was used to ward off evil and so was put on this silver Drachm made in Parion in the 6th Century B.C. We have two grades, Fine & Very Fine, a fascinating charm, 2500 years ago and now.

George V, KM22, Uncirculated with lustre