Sale: CNG 69, Lot: 28. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 8 June 2005.  Sold For $2100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ETRURIA, Luca(?). Circa 300-250 BC. AR 5 Asses (11.25 gm). Laureate male head right; mark of value behind / Blank. Vecchi I 33/1 (this coin; Populonia); SNG ANS 25 (Populonia); HN Italy 97. VF, toned, minor flan flaws, horn silver on reverse. Rare. ($3000)

Ex New York Sale IV (17 January 2002), lot 1; Auctiones 10 (12 June 1979), lot 43; Leu 20 (25 April 1978), lot 2.

The only attested find spot for this issue (published in Lettera di Sebastiano Ciampi sopra tre medalie etruschee in argento [Pisa 1813]) is in the hills overlooking Luca (modern Lucca). Luca was traditionally thought to be a city of Roman rather than Etruscan origin, and so no Etruscan coins were attributed to it. However, in recent excavations the Etruscan origins of Luca have been discovered, leading to the re-attribution of certain Etruscan types, including the present one, to the city.