The latter hypothesis is supported by the design, which is based on a Denarius of Brutus depicting his famous ancestor, and the monogram that sometimes appears on these Staters and can be interpreted as BR. Alternatively, the monogram can be read as OΛB for Olbia or BA for basileus (king).

A recent metallurgic study has pointed out that only the ones carrying a monogram are struck from refined gold of about 97% which is not found in native golden artifacts (Constantinescu 2012). This suggests that the monogram-coins were possibly struck from Roman gold, supporting the Brutus connection. In contrast, the ones without the monogram consist of unrefined gold with the same chemical properties as locally mined gold.8.63 g.

Fully lustrous