|
MEGARIS, Megara. Circa 307-290/80 BC. AR Drachm (17mm, 3.92 g, 6h). Head of Apollo right, wearing laurel wreath / Kithara; MEΓA-PEΩN at sides. BCD Peloponnesos 13 (this coin); HGC 4, 1788 (this coin illustrated); SNG Copenhagen 466; Boston MFA 1105 (same dies). Toned, some roughness, cleaning scratches under tone, minor delaminations. VF. Rare.
From the David Chapman Collection. Ex C.P.A. Collection (Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 247, 12 January 2011), lot 91; BCD Collection (LHS 96, 8-9 May 2006), lot 13; Hess-Leu 45 (12 May 1970), lot 191; Münzhandlung Basel 8 (22 March 1937), lot 298.
Bridging Attica on the east and Corinthia on the west, Megaris was comprised of only a few towns, with Megara being its capital and only major city. Megaris’s location in the northern part of the Isthmus of Corinth put the region in the middle of any conflict between the bitter rivals Athens and Corinth. Shortly before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians sought revenge on the Megarians for their support of Corinth. As a result, Athens instituted the Megarian Decree, an embargo designed to economically strangle the Megarians; this decree was used as a pretext by some in Sparta for the Peloponnesian War. Siding with Sparta in the war, Megara lost its main port to the Athenian general Nikias, and, for a short time, a pro-Athenian goverment seized power in the city. While Megara remained prosperous following the war and founded colonies in Sicily and the Hellespont, little else is recorded. Megara periodically struck coinage from the 4th through 1st centuries BC.
The final winners of all Triton XXIX lots will be determined at the live public sale that will be held on 13-14 January 2026.
Triton XXIX – Session One – Lot 1-301 will be held Tuesday morning, 13 January 2026 beginning at 9:00 AM ET.
Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.
We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers. The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and stable previous version of Chrome and Firefox.
|
