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Research Coins: The Coin Shop

 

A Coin of Artistic Merit
Pedigreed to two early Leu Sales

410387. Sold For $79500

CALABRIA, Tarentum. Circa 333-331/0 BC. AV Stater (18mm, 8.60 g, 4h). Head of Persephone right, wearing a stephanos ornamented with palmettes, a slight veil, and triple-pendant earring; TAPA to right, NK monogram below / Nude warrior, shield on left arm, holding two spears in left hand, preparing to cast a third held aloft in his right hand, on horse rearing right; |- to left, Θ to right, AΠ below, TAPANTINΩN to outer right. Fischer-Bossert G2f (V2/R2 – this coin); Vlasto, Or Type C; Vlasto 4 (same dies); HN Italy 905; BMC 6 (same dies); De Luynes 238 (same dies). Good VF, some light scratches and scuffs. A superb early die from a series of exceptional artistic merit. Very rare – ten example noted by Fisher-Bossert, five of which are in museums.


From the JP Collection. Ex Leu 45 (26 May 1988), lot 9; Leu 15 (4 May 1976), lot 12.

For decades, a flood of Italic peoples – Samnites, Brettii, and Lucani – had been pressing the Greek city-states of Magna Graecia. In desperation, the Tarentines turned to the king of Epeiros, Alexander the Molassian. Alexander, while eager to help his Greek brothers, remained aware of the opportunity to add to his holdings and emulate his Macedonian cousin, Alexander the Great. Though initially defeating the Samnites and Lucani in battle, the fortunes of the Epirote king met a dramatic reversal at the Battle of Pandosia, when Alexander was slain by a Lucanian javelin. The exquisite gold staters of the present type were struck to finance these campaigns.