Nomos 34

LUCANIA. Metapontum. Circa 430-400 BC. Didrachm or nomos (Silver, 22 mm, 8.06 g, 1 h). Laureate head of Apollo Karneios to right, with short hair and a ram’s ear and horn. Rev. [Μ]ΕΤΑ Barley with ear with six rows of grain and leaf to left. HN III 1508. Noe 336. SNG 287. SNG Munich 952. Rare. With a wonderful head of Apollo of the finest Classical style; very well-centered, sharply struck from fresh dies and lightly toned. Some minor deposits and some minor scratches on the reverse, otherwise, extremely fine.

Acquired from Tradart in 1985.


This coin forms part of a very unusual issue: not only is the appearance of Apollo Karneios a surprise, but a goodly number of the known examples are actually ancient forgeries (i.e, Noe 334, 338 ff. - most are very much underweight, usually plated, and are of distinctly poor style). In some ways this implies that these coins were issued for a special reason; given that Karneios was closely connected with Lakedaimon, could it be that a small issue was produced to honor an ephemeral relationship between Metapontum and Sparta? In any case, this is one of the nicest full weight and genuine examples of the type known.