Sale: Nomos 6, Lot: 1. Estimate CHF750.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 May 2012.  Sold For CHF2200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

GAUL, Massalia. Circa 200-150 BC. Drachm (Silver, 2.69 g 12). Head of Artemis to right, wearing olive wreath, pendant earring and simple necklace; behind, at her neck, bow and quiver. Rev. ΜΑΣΣΑ Lion walking to right, his head slightly lowered; in exergue, Η Η. C. Brenot, Les Monnaies Massaliètes, Lyon (ND), Groupe I, série 3, 60-62. Brenot & Sias, Marseilles, Groupe I, 28/1-3. De la Tour 940-943 and pl. III, 942. Jameson 1848 (this coin). Nicely toned and very attractive. About extremely fine.

From the Jameson collection.

The later drachm coinage of Massalia was very extensive and ranged from the later 3rd into the 1st century BC. The style of most of the coins is rather bold, albeit somewhat provincial, but the dies for the “Η Η”group are exceptional. The engraver who produced the dies created an elegant head of Artemis that harked back to the late classical heads found in 4th century Magna Graecia, and shows a powerful lion moving to the right, his head very slightly lowered in a most naturalistic manner. This is surely the most impressive of all the late silver coins of Massalia.