Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XI 7 April 2016
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Lucania, Velia AR Hemidrachm. Circa 305-290 BC. Head of Athena right, wearing Corinthian helmet bound with olive-wreath / Lion crouching left, holding sword in jaws and right paw; below, I; [ΥΕ]ΛHΤ IΩ[Ν] in exergue. Haeberlin, ZfN 1908, p. 231 (Volsinii); Giesecke, Italia Numismatica p. 21-22 (Volsinii); HN Italy 2677 (uncertain issue). 2.76g, 15mm, 8h.
Toned, Good Very Fine. Unique.
From the Dr. Murray Gell-Mann Collection;
Ex Walther Giesecke Collection.
When this long lost unique coin from the Walther Giesecke collection was first published by Ernst Haeberlin in 1908, it was attributed on the suggestion of Heinrich Dressel (then Director of the Königliche Museen zu Berlin) as part of the gold Volsinii series (Vecchi, Etruscan Coins, pp. 367-8), based on a misreading of the legend below the exergual line and misinterpretation of the I below the lion as an Etruscan value mark. This erroneous conclusion was followed by Giesecke in his masterful publication, Italia Numismatica, Leipzig 1928, and this incorrect identification was perpetuated by Italo Vecchi in a preliminary study on Etruscan coins, SNR 26, 1988 p. 61, with the caveat 'as the coin is not available the recorded weight could not checked.'
In 2001 Historia Nummorum Italy (no. 2677), without the benefit of actually seeing the coin, correctly rejected the Volsinian identification, placing it under 'Uncertain Issues' (pp. 198-9) and tentatively suggested that the issue may belong to Velia based on the similarity of the reverse type to the Philistion group of didrachms (Williams 406-8; HN Italy 1303-4). The welcomed reappearance of the coin in this interesting American collection after nearly 100 years confirms the suspected attribution of HN Italy, with a slightly blundered, but clear legend: ... ΛNΤ IΩ ... (sic).
Toned, Good Very Fine. Unique.
From the Dr. Murray Gell-Mann Collection;
Ex Walther Giesecke Collection.
When this long lost unique coin from the Walther Giesecke collection was first published by Ernst Haeberlin in 1908, it was attributed on the suggestion of Heinrich Dressel (then Director of the Königliche Museen zu Berlin) as part of the gold Volsinii series (Vecchi, Etruscan Coins, pp. 367-8), based on a misreading of the legend below the exergual line and misinterpretation of the I below the lion as an Etruscan value mark. This erroneous conclusion was followed by Giesecke in his masterful publication, Italia Numismatica, Leipzig 1928, and this incorrect identification was perpetuated by Italo Vecchi in a preliminary study on Etruscan coins, SNR 26, 1988 p. 61, with the caveat 'as the coin is not available the recorded weight could not checked.'
In 2001 Historia Nummorum Italy (no. 2677), without the benefit of actually seeing the coin, correctly rejected the Volsinian identification, placing it under 'Uncertain Issues' (pp. 198-9) and tentatively suggested that the issue may belong to Velia based on the similarity of the reverse type to the Philistion group of didrachms (Williams 406-8; HN Italy 1303-4). The welcomed reappearance of the coin in this interesting American collection after nearly 100 years confirms the suspected attribution of HN Italy, with a slightly blundered, but clear legend: ... ΛNΤ IΩ ... (sic).