Watch List notes:

JDL Collection Part II: Geek Coins
PELOPONNESUS. ELIS.

OLYMPIA, Stater c. 340, 110th Olympiad, Aeginetic standard, AR 12.29 g.

Obv. Laureate and bearded head of Zeus right.
Rev. F-A/A-P Eagle standing right on ram's head.
Literature
Traité II/3, 1155, pl. CCXXXIV, 10
BMC Peloponnesus 72, 122, pl. XV, 2 SNG Lockett 2409 (these dies)
C. T. Seltman, The Temple Coins of Olympia, Cambridge, 1921, 18, 194 (these dies)
Jameson 1244 (these dies) BCD Olympia 153 (these dies) Weber 4050 (these dies)
Kraay-Hirmer pl. 158, 505 (this coin)
M.-M. Bendenoun, Coins of the Ancient World, A portrait of the JDL Collection, Tradart, Genève, 2009, 21 (this coin)
Condition
Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue. A superb portrait, in the finest style of the period, struck in high relief. Old cabinet tone, an insignificant metal flaw on reverse, otherwise extremely fine.

Provenance
Frank Sternberg AG XVI, Zürich 1985, lot 131. Bank Leu AG 13, Zürich 1975, lot 167.
One of the few ancient traditions to have been resurrected in modern times is the quadrennial Olympic Games. Though the religious spirit of the original games has vanished, the element of athletic rivalry among nations has survived intact. Every four years the world's attention turns to these great games, just as it did in Olympia so many centuries ago.
The coinage issued for these games in ancient times had seve- ral purposes – as vehicles for commerce, as a source of income through a mandatory exchange, as a showcase for the works of gifted engravers, as keepsakes for visitors, and as celebrations of Zeus and Hera, who presided over the Sanctuary at Olym- pia and the games themselves.
A narrow range of images occurs on Olympic silver coinage, all of which are dedicated to Zeus, his consort Hera, Nike, or to the nymph Olympia. Often these divinities are represented with artful portraits, though Zeus is also represented with his eagle and thunderbolt. Nike occurs as a symbol of victory, and when a laurel wreath occurs it would seem to be as an allusion to the games.
Olympic staters appear to have been produced only for the games, and Charles Seltman's comprehensive die study (1921) proves that two separate mints existed, one perhaps at the Temple of Zeus and the other at the Temple of Hera. The mint of Hera probably was combined with that of Zeus some time toward the end of the 4th Century B.C., and perhaps a century later the Olympic mint may have been moved to the regional capital of Elis.
This stater, issued by the temple mint of Zeus, is a pristine example of the fine workmanship of Olympic coinage from the early Hellenistic period. Its forceful head of Zeus is paired with a vigilant eagle. Even within the repeating themes at
Olympia, the engravers maintained freshness in their designs by employing different artistic approaches and by taking delight
in minor varieties. On the Zeus-eagle staters, for example, the eagle is perched variously on the capital of an Ionic column, a simple base, a hare, a fawn, the back of a recumbent ram, a stag's head, a snake or, in this case, the head of a ram.