Sale: CNG 64, Lot: 16. Estimate $4000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 24 September 2003.  Sold For $3300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ETRURIA, Populonia. Circa 211-200 BC. AR 5 Asses (1.35 gm). Youthful head left (of the god Aplu?), V behind / Blank. Vecchi III 52; SNG ANS 32 var. (head right); HN Italy 173. Toned VF. Rare, only fifteen specimens recorded. ($4000)

Two varieties are known of this type, one with a young head, which may be male or female, and the second with an older head which is clearly male. The dating of the entire Populonia series remains problematic; the coins are probably not as late as Vecchi initially dated them (circa 211-200 BC), and other scholars have put them as early as circa 400 BC.