Sale: CNG 70, Lot: 22. Estimate $1500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 September 2005.  Sold For $1650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LUCANIA, Metapontion. Time of Alexander the Molossian. Circa 334-330 BC. AV Third-Stater (2.56 g, 6h). Achaean standard. Struck circa 334-332 BC. Head of Hera right / Six-grained barley ear, leaf to right; to right on leaf, owl perched right. Johnston G1 (same dies); SNG ANS 395; HN Italy 1578. VF. Very rare. ($1500)

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 to that on the issues of Tarentum during the time of Alexander, and the exceptional appearance of Hera on a coin of Metapontion, indicate that this issue was struck when the city was allied with the Molossian.