Sale: Nomos 1, Lot: 30. Estimate CHF10000.  Closing Date: Tuesday, 5 May 2009.  Sold For CHF11000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CARTHAGE. Circa 350-320 BC. Stater (Gold, 9.30 g 12). Head of Tanit to left, wearing grain wreath, triple-pendant earring and pendant necklace Rev. Horse standing right; to right, three pellets. Jenkins & Lewis Group IIIh. SNG Copenhagen 974. A splendid, fresh example, sharply struck. Attractively toned and lustrous, good extremely fine.

Carthage’s chief symbols were the goddess Tanit, sometimes shown in versions closely similar to those of Arethusa on the coinage of Syracuse, or in a more oriental way, as here and in the next lot, the horse and the date palm tree. All the gold and electrum coinages produced by Carthage were designed for military needs: the superb quality of this piece shows that it was buried very shortly after it was issued.