Rare Issa Bronze

359, Lot: 21. Estimate $500. Sold for $2100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISLANDS off ILLYRIA, Issa. Circa 330-320 BC. Æ (25mm, 15.51 g, 5h). Youthful head of the Hero Ionios left; IONIOΣ to left, along forehead (barely visible) / Head of lion right. J. Brunšmid, Die Inschriften und Münzen der griechischen Städte Dalmatiens (Vienna, 1898), p. 61, 6; F. Imhoof-Blumer, “Griechische Münzen aus dem Museum in Klagenfurt und anderen Sammlungen” in NZ 16 (1884), 69; otherwise unpublished in the standard references. Near VF, dark brown patina, overstruck on issue of Pharos, of head of Zeus/standing goat type (portions of each visible). Rare, but of the 30 pieces known to P. Visonà, only two are not in a public collection.

For another example from this series, but with a slightly different obverse type, see P. Visonà, “Monete greche d’Illiria nella collezione del civico museo di storia ed arte di Trieste” in RIN 111 (2010), 6. This article also contains details on the current state of research on the coinage of Issa, which has been slightly modified in P. Visonà, “Škudljivac Redux. New Data on IGCH 418-420” in Vjesnik Arheološkog muzeja u Zagrebu 45.1 (2013). [Our thanks to P. Visonà for identifying the undertype, providing the dates of issue, and the rarity.]