Triton XX, Lot: 8. Estimate $1000. Sold for $1300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CALABRIA, Tarentum. Alexander the Molossian. King of Epeiros, 350-330 BC. AV Twelfth Stater – Hemilitra (8mm, 0.65 g, 8h). Struck circa 333-331/0 BC. Radiate head of Helios facing slightly left / Thunderbolt; AΛ/EΞ in two lines, above and below. Vlasto, Alexander, Type 6A, pl.ix, 10 (same dies); cf. Fischer-Bossert G3; Vlasto 1864–5; cf. HN Italy 906; Hunterian 2 (same obv. die); De Luynes 1892 (same obv. die). VF.

From the collection of a Northern California Gentleman.

Alexander the Molossian, king of Epeiros, arrived in Italy in 334 BC ostensibly to assist the beleaguered Tarantine state, which was being threatened by the warlike Lucanians. His true purpose, however, was to extend his dominion in the west just as his namesake, the king of Macedon, was establishing a great empire in the east. After initial successes, his career was abruptly terminated in 330 BC beneath the walls of Pandosia, where he perished in battle against the Bruttians, much to the relief of the Tarentine Republic