Sale: CNG 72, Lot: 139. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 June 2006.  Sold For $2450. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BRUTTIUM, Kroton. Circa 530-500 BC. AR Nomos (8.09 g, 12h). Tripod, legs terminating in lion's feet; crab to right / Incuse tripod; linear crab to right. SNG ANS 244 var. (ethnic); HN Italy 2078. Good VF, toned, minor flan flaw on reverse.

As with many cities in Magna Graecia, Kroton was established by colonists from mainland Greece. Myskellos, obeying a directive of the oracle of Delphi, led a group of Achaean settlers to the site and founded the city around 710 BC. This divine sanction is represented by the tripod of the oracle, which became the civic badge of Kroton and is featured on its coinage. Kroton was among the first cities to produce coinage in Italy, its earliest being of the incuse type struck on the Achaian standard. As evidenced by its bountiful coinage, Kroton was one of the most important and wealthy cities of southern Italy. Although its fortunes rose and fell over the centuries, it maintained its production of a wide array of denominations and metals until the Roman period.