Sale: CNG 63, Lot: 48. Estimate $6000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2003.  Sold For $6000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LUCANIA, Herakleia. Circa 281-278 BC. AR Nomos (7.79 gm). Time of Pyrrhos. Head of Athena right, wearing Corinthian helmet decorated with olive wreath; monogram behind / Herakles standing facing, wearing head of lion skin with its legs over his left arm, crowning himself and holding club; cornucopiae in left field, monogram between club and leg, magistrate Archias. Van Keuren 96; SNG ANS -; HN Italy 1394. Toned, superb EF, perfectly centered and well struck. Exceptional work by a master engraver. ($6000)

This victorious Herakles is a remarkable departure from the standard Herakleia eponymous type. It was struck during the first years of the Pyrrhic War, shortly after Pyrrhos of Epeiros arrived in Italy in response to the plea of the southern cities for aid against Rome. His first major battle with the Romans was on the banks of the river Siris near Herakleia in 280 BC, where, after repulsing the Romans with heavy losses on both sides, he uttered the famous phrase "One more such victory and I must return to Epeiros alone!". The Herakleians still felt the victory deserved commemoration, striking a series of nomoi with victorious Herakles. The style of these Pyrrhic era coins is so different for the somewhat stodgy formalized style of their predecessors that is it likely they were prepared with the assistance of workmen brought from Epeiros.