Classic Greece. Robert Ready British Museum electrotype. Pyrrhus (in the West). Died, 272 B.C. Silver didrachm copy. 22 mm. (The B.M. piece weighs 8.42 grams). Circa 295-272 B.C. Helmeted head of Achilles left; A below / Thetis, veiled, seated left, holding a shield and riding right on a hippocamp; ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ (ΠΥΡΡΟΥ). Head plate 37, 19. A masterpiece of classic Greek art. Silver gilt.

King of Epirus, Pyrrhus, whose victories against Rome and Macedonia were so costly to his forces that the term "Pyrrhic victory" has become part of modern thought.
An in-hand experience of the finest of Greek coinage:
In the late 1850's the British Museum hired the seal-maker, Robert Ready, to produce copies of some of the finest coins in the British Museum collection. With an electrotyping technique they had perfected Ready and his sons produced exact replicas of the actual museum coins. They were produced in two parts, an obverse and a reverse. We acquired a select group of some of the most beautiful and important pieces they produced. All of these were direct copper casts of the actual coins and all but lots 36 and 38 have been gilt to illustrate the color of the actual coin, silver or gold.
All electrotypes offered here are in two separate halves.