Heritage World Coin Auctions
ANA Signature Sale 3048 11 August 2016
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LUCANIA. Sybaris. Ca. 530-510 BC. AR stater or nomos (26mm, 8.15 gm, 12h). Bull standing left, head right, on dotted ground line, dotted double circle around rim; VM in exergue / Incuse bull standing right, head left. SNG ANS 836. HN Italy 1729. NGC Choice XF★ 5/5 - 5/5.Ex Stacks-Bowers & Ponterio 164 (New York, 6 January 2012), lot 48.The Greek colony in Sybaris, located on the instep of the Italian boot, was founded circa 720 BC and quickly amassed great wealth due to its fertile fields and active port. The historian Diodorus Siculus claims it had a population of 300,000 in its heyday, a number aided by the city's "no questions asked" policy of admitting outsiders to its citizenship. Descriptions of the city's wealth and the abundance of luxurious dwellings abound in ancient literature, and "Sybarite" became a synonym for any self-indulgent lover of luxury. Its destruction by Croton in circa 476 BC was attributed to divine vengeance for its ostentatious wealth. The silver coinage of Sybaris follows the remarkable relief / incuse pattern employed by other cities of Greek southern Italy in the sixth and early fifth centuries BC, which required careful flan preparation and precise alignment of the dies. The bull of Sybaris, with its reverted head, exerted a powerful influence on modern artists, including Picasso.
Estimate: 5000-7000 USD
LUCANIA. Sybaris. Ca. 530-510 BC. AR stater or nomos (26mm, 8.15 gm, 12h). Bull standing left, head right, on dotted ground line, dotted double circle around rim; VM in exergue / Incuse bull standing right, head left. SNG ANS 836. HN Italy 1729. NGC Choice XF★ 5/5 - 5/5.Ex Stacks-Bowers & Ponterio 164 (New York, 6 January 2012), lot 48.The Greek colony in Sybaris, located on the instep of the Italian boot, was founded circa 720 BC and quickly amassed great wealth due to its fertile fields and active port. The historian Diodorus Siculus claims it had a population of 300,000 in its heyday, a number aided by the city's "no questions asked" policy of admitting outsiders to its citizenship. Descriptions of the city's wealth and the abundance of luxurious dwellings abound in ancient literature, and "Sybarite" became a synonym for any self-indulgent lover of luxury. Its destruction by Croton in circa 476 BC was attributed to divine vengeance for its ostentatious wealth. The silver coinage of Sybaris follows the remarkable relief / incuse pattern employed by other cities of Greek southern Italy in the sixth and early fifth centuries BC, which required careful flan preparation and precise alignment of the dies. The bull of Sybaris, with its reverted head, exerted a powerful influence on modern artists, including Picasso.
Estimate: 5000-7000 USD