Heritage World Coin Auctions
Long Beach Signature Sale 3042 17-18 Sep 2015
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Ancients
SICILY. Syracuse. Pyrrhus (278-276 BC). Æ litra (24mm, 10.86 gm, 4h). ΣYΡΑΚΟΣΙΩΝ, head of young Heracles left, wearing lion-skin headdress / Athena Promachus advancing right, holding thunderbolt and shield, trident head in left field. HGC 2, 1450. Calciati CNS 175. Well struck from fresh dies, with superb detail throughout. Surely one of the finest specimens extant. Glossy brown patina. NGC MS 4/5 - 4/5. From the time he became king of Epirus in 319 BC, the handsome and charismatic Pyrrhus had designs of eclipsing Alexander the Great's career of conquest, turning his eyes to the wide-open west. An opportunity came in 280 BC, when the city of Tarentum in southern Italy sought his assistance in resisting the expanding power of Rome. Landing in Italy with his well-trained army and several war elephants, he marched against the Romans and defeated them near Heraclea. Though the disciplined Macedonian-style phalanx and elephants terrified the Romans, they put up a bitter struggle and inflicted heavy casualties. Pyrrhus won a second, even more costly victory at Ausculum in 279 BC, after which he is said to have remarked, "another such 'victory' and I am finished!" Thus was born the phrase "Pyrrhic victory," meaning a battle won at such a high cost that it might as well be a defeat. He next sailed his army to Sicily in 278 BC, allegedly to support Syracuse and other Greek cities against Carthage. The bronze piece above was struck during Pyrrhus' occupation of Syracuse and bears an obverse modeled on Alexander's coinage.
Estimate: 1500-2000 USD
SICILY. Syracuse. Pyrrhus (278-276 BC). Æ litra (24mm, 10.86 gm, 4h). ΣYΡΑΚΟΣΙΩΝ, head of young Heracles left, wearing lion-skin headdress / Athena Promachus advancing right, holding thunderbolt and shield, trident head in left field. HGC 2, 1450. Calciati CNS 175. Well struck from fresh dies, with superb detail throughout. Surely one of the finest specimens extant. Glossy brown patina. NGC MS 4/5 - 4/5. From the time he became king of Epirus in 319 BC, the handsome and charismatic Pyrrhus had designs of eclipsing Alexander the Great's career of conquest, turning his eyes to the wide-open west. An opportunity came in 280 BC, when the city of Tarentum in southern Italy sought his assistance in resisting the expanding power of Rome. Landing in Italy with his well-trained army and several war elephants, he marched against the Romans and defeated them near Heraclea. Though the disciplined Macedonian-style phalanx and elephants terrified the Romans, they put up a bitter struggle and inflicted heavy casualties. Pyrrhus won a second, even more costly victory at Ausculum in 279 BC, after which he is said to have remarked, "another such 'victory' and I am finished!" Thus was born the phrase "Pyrrhic victory," meaning a battle won at such a high cost that it might as well be a defeat. He next sailed his army to Sicily in 278 BC, allegedly to support Syracuse and other Greek cities against Carthage. The bronze piece above was struck during Pyrrhus' occupation of Syracuse and bears an obverse modeled on Alexander's coinage.
Estimate: 1500-2000 USD