345, Lot: 95. Estimate $300. Sold for $380. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CRETE, Koinon of Crete. Trajan. AD 98-117. AR Drachm (17mm, 3.06 g, 6h). Laureate bust right, slight drapery / Diktynna seated left on rocks, holding uncertain object and the infant Zeus; to either side of her, an armed Curete standing left. Svoronos, Numismatique 4 (Dictynna); SNG Copenhagen 578; Traeger 390-1; BMC 16. Near VF, toned, areas of roughness, traces of deposits. Very rare.

From the Colin E. Pitchfork Collection. Ex Freeman & Sear 6 (6 October 2000), lot 730 (part of); Freeman & Sear 5 (14 May 1999), lot 401.

Dictynna (also known as Britomartis) was a Cretan goddess, sometimes identified with Artemis, who was caught in a fisherman’s net (diktyon) while trying to escape the advances of Poseidon. The accompanying Curetes were minor deities of the island who protected the infant Zeus by drowning his cries with the clashing of their spears against their shields. The coin is unusual for having a Latin obverse and a Greek reverse legend.