402, Lot: 1. Estimate $100. Sold for $180. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LUCANIA, Paestum (Poseidonia). Circa 90-44 BC. Æ Semis (15mm, 3.04 g, 5h). MI(NE)IA • M • F, female head right / Two-story building; P-S flanking upper floor, S-C flanking lower. Crawford, Paestum 38b; HN Italy 1258. Near VF, brown surfaces, some roughness. Rare.

We have here the rare instance of a woman signing as the sponsor of a coinage issue. Mineia is also known from contemporary inscriptions as a major benefactor of the city of Paestum. The building, a public structure of some sort, may be another of her donations to the city, and it is even conceivable the female head is a portrait of Mineia herself.