Exquisite Rendering of Leukippos

Sale: CNG 78, Lot: 161. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 May 2008.  Sold For $6000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LUCANIA, Metapontion. Circa 280-279 BC. AV Tetrobol (2.92 g, 11h). Attic standard. Struck for Pyrrhos of Epeiros. Bearded head of Leukippos right, wearing crested Corinthian helmet decorated with Skylla hurling a stone / Two six-grained barley ears, each with a curly leaf to outside; ΣI between. Johnston Class G, 5; HN Italy 1630; Gulbenkian 72. EF, underlying luster, small area of flat strike on reverse.

Demonstrating the usual flare shown by the die engravers in the service of Pyrrhos during his military expedition in Italy and Sicily, the small gold issues of 280/279 depicting Nike and Leukippos (HN Italy 1629-1631) are of a refinement second to none. The traditional city founder is rendered in exquisite detail with the added novelty of his helmet being decorated with Scylla hurling a stone, the very embodiment of aggressive violence before the enemy in time of war.