Description
Italy. Bruttium. Stater ca. 420-400 BC, Terina. Silver 7.89 g.; 22.4 mm.
Obverse: Head of the nymph Terina wearing a single-strand pearl necklace, her hair gathered in a sphendone decorated with meanders to the right, Π behind her head, at the nape of her neck. Obverse caption: TEPI-NAIO-[N] // Reverse: Nike with open wings, wearing a chiton and a himation, legs slightly apart, seated left on a cippus on which she rests her left hand and holding in her right hand which she rests on her leg, a two-leaf olive branch.
Regling 43; Holloway & Jenkins 47; HN Italy 2602; Jameson 479 and BMC 17 var. (Π instead of Φ).
A very well-preserved Stater featuring an ovoid flan with gold highlights. The type of our coin depicting Nike on the reverse with her wings open is extremely rare, with less than a dozen examples ever seen on sale! Our coin was struck with a rare pair of dies. Extremely fine EF 40-45
Provenance Details
Ex Bank Leu, Auktion 25, Zürich, Switzerland, 23 April 1980, lot 45.
Faune d'Argent Collection.
Comment
The book by Kurt Regling, published in 1906, provides the first analysis of these coins. In particular, he shows that the obverse die is only used for two types (43 and 44), as is the reverse die used this time for types 42 and 43. Still in his study, he indicates only 14 known coins for our combination - no. 43 - several of which have been seen for sale over the last twenty years. At least one example struck with the same dies is preserved in the British Museum.
Our Stater is all the more interesting for being signed. The artist engraved his signature - the letter Π - on the dies. It can be seen on the obverse, behind the nymph's head, at the nape of her neck. It is depicted in a very delicate way, making it almost invisible. As for the reverse, the works also mention its presence on the cippus.
Beyond the rarity of the dies used and the fact that it is so rarely seen in auctions, our Stater is all the rarer for its excellent state of preservation and, above all, its role as a witness to the importance of the exchanges - both human and stylistic - that were taking place in the Greek world at the end of the 5th century BC.
Payment
Bankwire acceptedPaypal accepted