Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3071 6-7 Jan 2019
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LUCANIA. Sybaris. Ca. 530-510 BC. AR stater (27mm, 8.04 gm, 12h). NGC MS★ 4/5 - 4/5, overstruck. 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.
Ex Stack's and Bower Galleries (16 August 2018) lot 20005; John Whitney Walter Collection; Harlan J. Berk, private purchase.
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.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 7000-10000 USD
LUCANIA. Sybaris. Ca. 530-510 BC. AR stater (27mm, 8.04 gm, 12h). NGC MS★ 4/5 - 4/5, overstruck. 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.
Ex Stack's and Bower Galleries (16 August 2018) lot 20005; John Whitney Walter Collection; Harlan J. Berk, private purchase.
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.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 7000-10000 USD