Struck for Pyrrhos of Epeiros

Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 24. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $3200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LUCANIA, Metapontion. Circa 280-279 BC. AV Tetrobol (2.81 g, 10h). Attic standard. Struck for Pyrrhos of Epeiros. Bearded head of Leukippos right, wearing crested Corinthian helmet decorated with Skylla hurling a stone; ΛEYKI[ΠΠOΣ] above / Two six-grained barley ears, each with a curly leaf to outside; M-E across field, ΣI between. Johnston Class G, 5.1 (same dies); HN Italy 1630; SNG ANS 397-8; SNG Lloyd -; Basel 153; SNG Copenhagen Supp. 43; SNG Lockett 404; Jameson 1867; Gulbenkian 72. Good VF, lightly toned, obverse a little off center.

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.