Ex Hunt Collection

Triton XX, Lot: 26. Estimate $5000. Sold for $8000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LUCANIA, Metapontion. temp. Alexander the Molossian. Circa 334-322 BC. AV Third Stater – Tetrobol (13.5mm, 2.63 g, 11h). Achaian standard. Head of Hera right, wearing stephanos ornamented with palmettes, and single-pendant earring / Barley ear with six grains and leaf to right; bird standing right on leaf, METAΠON to left. Johnston G1 (same dies as illustration); HN Italy 1578; SNG ANS 395; SNG Lloyd –; SNG Lockett 406; Dewing 377 (same dies); Gillet 203 (same dies); Hunt Sale II 197 (this coin). Good VF, tiny nick in field on obverse.

From the collection of a Northern California Gentleman. Ex Nelson Bunker Hunt Collection (Part II, Sotheby’s New York, 21 June 1990), lot 197.

As with many of the cities of Magna Graecia, the gold issues of Metapontion are typically associated with periods of abnormal military expenditure. The similarity of the head of Hera here to that on the issues of Tarentum during the time of Alexander the Molossian, and the exceptional appearance of Hera on an issue of Metapontion, suggest that this issue was struck when the city was allied with the Epirote king.