Sale: Nomos 6, Lot: 7. Estimate CHF2750.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 May 2012.  Sold For CHF3200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LUCANIA, Metapontion. Circa 340-330 BC. Stater (Silver, 7.93 g 6). ΛΕΥΚΙΠΠΟΣ Bearded head of Leukippos to right, wearing Corinthian helmet; behind, dog seated to left, his right forepaw raised; below neck, Σ. Rev. ΜΕΤΑ Seven-grained barley ear with leaf to right; on leaf, bird with open wings to right; below leaf, ΑΜ[Ι]. HN III 1576. Johnston B3.16 (same dies). A lovely, well-centered coin, attractively toned. Extremely fine.

From a European collection.

The head of the hero Leukippos on this coin is particularly elegant. He was a mythical king of Messene whom the Metapontines claimed as the founder of their city. His appearance on the coins almost certainly serves as an allusion to the help given to Metapontum by Alexander the Molossian, another king from across the sea.