Lucania. Sybaris. 525-500 BC. AR Nomos (8.31g, 12h). Schefold 442 (this coin); SNG München 1154. Very rare. Old cabinet tone. Perfectly centered and struck. Of wonderful archaic style. Choice extremely fine. From a private collection; Münzen & Medaillen 1975 (52) lot 47; former Robert Käppeli (1900-2000) collection

The first coins struck in Italy are of a unique and original form, whose invention has been attributed to none other than Pythagoras, the famous philosopher and mathematician. Impressed in relief on one side and incuse or intaglio on the other, perhaps adopted from repoussé work, these silver nomos were struck on the Italic-Achaean weight standard of about 8 grams which on the authority of Aristotle was called nomos, meaning 'law or convention'