Silver, 8,37g., 23 mm., Head of the bearded King ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΣΠΑΡΤΟΚΟΥ, Gorytos, r. Monogramm. SNG BM ; SNG Stancomb ; MacDonald 105 (Var.); HGC 7, 192 (Var.). The ruling house of Spartokos I, was founded by an Odrysian mercenary who usurped the regency from the Archaeanaktids. In total, there appear to have been five rulers with the name Spartokos, although this coinage is attributed to the last ruler of that name. Only a few pieces have been published. For a long time, the only known example was the piece in the State Historical Museum in Moscow (SHM 14153), which is in very poor condition and was first described in 1821. Another example has been known since the 1980s and is part of the collection of the American Numismatic Society. In 2007, V. N. Rosov published a third example. More or less imprecise information is available about several other pieces. Nina Frolova summarized these coins in 2013 (see below). A crucial difference between the Moscow piece and, as far as is known, all other didrachms is the design of the epsilon in the Royal title. In the former, it is semicircular, which only appears in the advanced Hellenistic period, whereas the other pieces have a square epsilon. The present coin is arguably the best surviving portrait of this ruler. For a summary and with older literature, see N. A. Frolova, Catalogue of Coins of the Kings of the Spartocid Dynasty in the 2nd century B.C., in: Ancient Civilisations from Scythia to Siberia 19, 2013, pp. 217-276; esp. pp. 234 ff.; 261 ff.; 266 ff. The best illustration of the Moscow piece is in O. N. Melnikov, K numismatike Bospora Kimmeriyskogo etapa srednego ellinisma, Sugdejskij Sbornik, Kiev - Sudak, 2010, IV, pp. 137-165. VF+ RRRR!