Sale: Nomos 1, Lot: 3. Estimate CHF10000.  Closing Date: Tuesday, 5 May 2009.  Sold For CHF16000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CAMPANIA, Neapolis. 450-430 BC. Stater (Silver, 7.54 g 11). ΝΕΟΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΟΝ (retrograde) Head of Athena to right, wearing Attic helmet adorned with olive wreath Rev. ΝΕΟΠΟΛΙΤΑΣ (retrograde) Man-headed bull, Achelous, standing to left; above, cicada to left. HN III 547. Jameson 42 = Rutter 3 (this coin). Of very great rarity, one of the earliest coins of Neapolis. Toned. A few minor marks, otherwise, good very fine.

From the collections of Robert Jameson and Sir Arthur Evans.

The normal obverse type at Neapolis was a head of Parthenope, daughter of the river god Achelous who appears on the reverse, but this very rare and early issue, with its head of Athena, celebrates the city’s links with Athens. Unlike many other Greek cities in Magna Graecia, Neapolis was founded rather late, only in c. 470, initially with colonists from nearby Cumae. Shortly later they were joined by immigrants from Chalcis and Athens.