Skythia, Koson (c. Mid 1st Century BC) AV Stater, 8.63g 18,5 mm. KOΣΩN Roman consul (L. Junius Brutus) walking left, accompanied by two lictors fore and aft, ΟΛΒ monogram in left field . Rev. Eagle standing left on sceptre, holding wreath in its talon. (RPC 1, 1701A; HGC 3, 2049). Mint state. Lustrous and sharply struck.
These enigmatic gold staters bearing the inscription KOΣΩN are known primarily from hoards discovered around Sarmizegetusa Regia in Transylvania. They combine a Greek name with Roman Republican imagery. The consul flanked by two lictors derives from a denarius issued by Marcus Junius Brutus in 54 BC, while the eagle holding a wreath also follows a Roman coin design. The identity of Koson and the precise circumstances of the issue remain disputed. One scholarly hypothesis links the staters bearing a monogram directly to Brutus. According to this interpretation, he had them struck in Macedonia to pay local allies, after which imitations without the monogram were produced in Dacia. Other researchers argue for an independent Dacian issue, pointing to the weight standard and similarities with gold staters from the western Black Sea region. The connection with Brutus is therefore a plausible scholarly interpretation, but not a universally accepted attribution.