Sale: Nomos 3 & 4, Lot: 36. Estimate CHF4500.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 May 2011.  Sold For CHF3600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISLANDS off SICILY, Lipara. Circa 425 BC. Tetras (Bronze, 24.91 g 3). Bearded head of Aiolos to right, wearing conical pilos Rev. ΛΙΠΑΡΑΙΟΝ (retrograde) Three pellets. CNS 5 mv 1 = Weber 1777. Very rare. Rough dark, blackish-green patina. Good very fine.

From the Z collecttion, Switzerland..

The earliest bronze coinage of Lipara began in the last quarter of the 5th century BC and was probably struck from metal seized as booty from a victory over the Etruscans. The early pieces were quite heavy and were struck on thick, cast flans with beveled edges. The tetrantes of this early group come in two different varieties: the more common has a small head of Aiolos, a son of Poseidon and god of the winds who was closely connected to Lipara, and the rarer bears a much larger head. The present piece is a particularly nice example of the rarer variety.