Tetradrachm

Greece has returned a total of 1,055 ancient coins which were illegally excavated and smuggled out of  Turkey, in the first such repatriation between the two countries.

The coins were seized by customs at the Kipi border crossing on the Greek-Turkish land border in July 2019.

An anonymous tip led to the arrest of a 44-year-old antiquities smuggler in Vatondas on the island of Evia on Monday for attempting to sell 38 Hellenistic-era silver coins.

Back in 93-97 BC, the public treasury didn't hire companies to chase up customers who were behind on their payments. They had a much simpler and effective method: a money collector armed with a wooden cudgel. On a tetradrachm struck in Macedonia at the time, the tools of the quaestors trade - the club and money chest - are seen on one side, with a portrait of Alexander the Great on the other.