367, Lot: 11. Estimate $150. Sold for $340. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LUCANIA, Paestum (Poseidonia). First Punic War. 264-241 BC. Æ (20mm, 8.25 g, 4h). Laureate head of Neptune right; dolphin behind / Eros, holding wreath and trident, riding dolphin left. Crawford, Paestum 3b; HN Italy 1185; Virzi 77 (this coin). VF, dark green patina, light roughness.

From the Edgar L. Owen Collection. Ex Thomas Virzi Collection (1881-1974), 77.

Thomas Virzi (1881-1974) was an assistant to the renowned Dr. Jacob Hirsch and sold a portion of his collection of Sicilian and Southern Italian bronzes with that firm in 1907. Additional coins were sold privately after his death, as well as in Leu 6 (8 May 1973) and Malloy XVII (1 December 1980). The only complete record of his important collection is a series of plates illustrating 2238 pieces.