Sale: Nomos 7, Lot: 40. Estimate CHF6000.  Closing Date: Tuesday, 14 May 2013.  Sold For CHF7500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MACEDON, Neapolis. Circa 500-480 BC. Stater (Silver, 8.94 g). Facing head of a Gorgon with protruding tongue. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square. SNG Ashmolean 2320. SNG ANS 400. SNG Copenhagen 223. A very sharply struck and well centered piece. Slightly granular surface. Extremely fine.

From the Spina Collection, ex Triton V, 15 January 2002, 1267.

The gorgon head on the obverse of this coin was apotropaic in nature: its glare was meant to keep harm away. The early coinage of Neapolis must have been struck in considerable numbers as a way of harnessing the wealth derived from the city’s nearby silver mines.