Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XVI 26 Sep 2018
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Etruria, Lucca(?) AR 5 Units. Circa 325-300 BC. Bearded and laureate head left, [Λ behind] / Blank. Cf. EC I, 3; HN Italy 96; SNG France 84 (Ateliers incertains). 9.80g, 21mm.
Very Fine. Extremely Rare, from a previously unrecorded die.
From the collection of a Swiss Etruscologist, and outside of Italy prior to December 1992.
This issue conforms stylistically with EC I, 3 which is attributed to Lucca on the basis of 2.1 and 3.3-4 having been found 'sopra i monti lucchesi' as reported by Ciampi in 1813. Though by weight it would be the lightest of the six known examples at 9.8g (as compared to a range of 10.96-11.37g, averaging at 11.19g), the condition of the metal is such that a higher original weight seems probable. Given that only five other specimens of EC I, 3 are known (of which four are in Museum collections - London [2], Milan and Paris) an unrecorded die is unsurprising.
Following on from the highly successful sale of the VCV Collection in Auction X, Roma Numismatics Ltd. is proud to present herein the Collection of a Swiss Etruscologist. Formed slowly over the past three decades, like the VCV Collection many of the constituent coins were purchased privately - necessarily so, since few Etruscan coins have traditionally been offered at auction. Some of the coins have been purchased from the ADM collection (sold in Numismatica Ars Classica sales 7 in 1994 and 13 in 1998), and the aforementioned VCV collection, which it joins along with 'An Important Etruscan Collection' sold in Spink sale 81, 27 March 1991, as an important reference for Etruscan coinage. In terms of its size and scope it is comparable not only to these collections, but also those of major museums. Indeed few collections (public or private) can boast a single running-Metus didrachm of Vulci, let alone two.
Of course, what is most exciting about cataloguing such a collection in a field that is still relatively not well understood and of which many if not most types remain very rare is not limited to the chance to hold and appreciate certain classic rarities, such as the iconic octopus-amphora 20 units and boar tridrachm of Populonia and the running-Metus didrachm of Vulci. It is also the number of previously unrecorded examples of very scarce types, previously unrecorded dies, and even entirely unrecorded types that come to light, having never been included in a scholarly census but which may now be rightly added to the corpus of Etruscan numismatics to enhance our understanding and that of collectors, scholars and art historians yet to come. Among these significant nova are two unique and unpublished coins worthy of note: an amphora silver 'unit' of Populonia (lot 9) and a diobol bearing a facing Silenus (lot 19); the addition of new specimens of known types to the existing corpus is no less important, particularly when considering such an extreme raritiy as the aforementioned Vulci didrachm (lot 87), or the lion-scalp diobol (lot 13).
Despite the great age and grandeur of Etruscan civilisation, its coinage is mainly late and has been thoroughly reappraised by Italo Vecchi in Italian Cast Coinage, A descriptive catalogue of the cast coinage of Rome and Italy, 2013, and in his monumental study: Etruscan Coinage Part 1, A corpus of the struck coinage of the Rasna, 2012, in which a good many of these coins are published. We gratefully thank Italo Vecchi for his invaluable assistance in cataloguing this collection and presenting it herein for sale.
It is the hope of the collector, whose patience over long years of careful collecting has yielded such an important assemblage, that by the publication and dispersal of these coins into the numismatic collecting community some new sparks may be struck that will continue in years to come the appreciation of these fragments of an ancient culture of whom so much has been irretrievably lost, and of whom despite the ongoing hard work of dedicated Etruscologists we still know so little.
Very Fine. Extremely Rare, from a previously unrecorded die.
From the collection of a Swiss Etruscologist, and outside of Italy prior to December 1992.
This issue conforms stylistically with EC I, 3 which is attributed to Lucca on the basis of 2.1 and 3.3-4 having been found 'sopra i monti lucchesi' as reported by Ciampi in 1813. Though by weight it would be the lightest of the six known examples at 9.8g (as compared to a range of 10.96-11.37g, averaging at 11.19g), the condition of the metal is such that a higher original weight seems probable. Given that only five other specimens of EC I, 3 are known (of which four are in Museum collections - London [2], Milan and Paris) an unrecorded die is unsurprising.
Following on from the highly successful sale of the VCV Collection in Auction X, Roma Numismatics Ltd. is proud to present herein the Collection of a Swiss Etruscologist. Formed slowly over the past three decades, like the VCV Collection many of the constituent coins were purchased privately - necessarily so, since few Etruscan coins have traditionally been offered at auction. Some of the coins have been purchased from the ADM collection (sold in Numismatica Ars Classica sales 7 in 1994 and 13 in 1998), and the aforementioned VCV collection, which it joins along with 'An Important Etruscan Collection' sold in Spink sale 81, 27 March 1991, as an important reference for Etruscan coinage. In terms of its size and scope it is comparable not only to these collections, but also those of major museums. Indeed few collections (public or private) can boast a single running-Metus didrachm of Vulci, let alone two.
Of course, what is most exciting about cataloguing such a collection in a field that is still relatively not well understood and of which many if not most types remain very rare is not limited to the chance to hold and appreciate certain classic rarities, such as the iconic octopus-amphora 20 units and boar tridrachm of Populonia and the running-Metus didrachm of Vulci. It is also the number of previously unrecorded examples of very scarce types, previously unrecorded dies, and even entirely unrecorded types that come to light, having never been included in a scholarly census but which may now be rightly added to the corpus of Etruscan numismatics to enhance our understanding and that of collectors, scholars and art historians yet to come. Among these significant nova are two unique and unpublished coins worthy of note: an amphora silver 'unit' of Populonia (lot 9) and a diobol bearing a facing Silenus (lot 19); the addition of new specimens of known types to the existing corpus is no less important, particularly when considering such an extreme raritiy as the aforementioned Vulci didrachm (lot 87), or the lion-scalp diobol (lot 13).
Despite the great age and grandeur of Etruscan civilisation, its coinage is mainly late and has been thoroughly reappraised by Italo Vecchi in Italian Cast Coinage, A descriptive catalogue of the cast coinage of Rome and Italy, 2013, and in his monumental study: Etruscan Coinage Part 1, A corpus of the struck coinage of the Rasna, 2012, in which a good many of these coins are published. We gratefully thank Italo Vecchi for his invaluable assistance in cataloguing this collection and presenting it herein for sale.
It is the hope of the collector, whose patience over long years of careful collecting has yielded such an important assemblage, that by the publication and dispersal of these coins into the numismatic collecting community some new sparks may be struck that will continue in years to come the appreciation of these fragments of an ancient culture of whom so much has been irretrievably lost, and of whom despite the ongoing hard work of dedicated Etruscologists we still know so little.