‡ Italy, Calabria, Tarentum, gold stater, c. 302 BC, ΤΑΡΑ, veiled female head right, wearing a necklace, triple-drop earring, and stephane decorated with a palmette and pellets; to right, dolphin swimming downwards; below truncation, ΚΟΝ, rev., ΔΙΟΣΚΟΡ[ΟΙ], the Dioscuri, laureate, on horses pacing left; the nearer holds a palm with wreath and fillet, the farther crowning his horse with a wreath; in ex.,ΣΑ, 8.59g, die axis 7.00 (Fischer-Bossert G 15 m & n = Wealth of the Ancient World 97, this piece; Vlasto 21; Vlasto (1899) p. 320, K.1; Gulbenkian 37; SNG Lloyd; Locker Lampson 14; de Luynes 240, all from the same dies; Jenkins AGC 444, same reverse die), toned, extremely fine and very rare, of exceptional quality Exhibited: Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas (1983); Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (1983); Detroit Institute of Arts (1984); Dallas Museum of Art (1984).Provenance: Bank Leu 25, 23 April 1980, lot 33; Nelson Bunker Hunt collection, part I, Sotheby’s, New York, 19 June 1990, lot 97; European Connoisseur collection (formed before 2002).Note: The hairstyle and physiognomy of the head (variously described as Hera, Persephone, or Amphitrite) though veiled and restrained, are derived from Euainetos’s Syracusan dekadrachms of a century earlier, testament to their lasting influence. Whether struck as financial support for a campaign against growing Syracusan power or a threat from non-Italian tribes in the interior, this very rare gold issue was an emergency one to pay mercenaries. In 302 BC Tarentum appealed to its mother-city, Sparta, and its king, Klemoenes, for help. Portrayed on the reverse as victors in the games are the Dioscuri, Castor and Polydeuces (Pollox), the patron deities of both Tarentum and Sparta.

Estimate: GBP 60000-80000