Nola.   Didrachm circa 400-385, AR 7.25 g. Diademed head of nymph r., wearing earring and necklace. Rev. Man-headed bull advancing l., crowned by Nike flying l.; in exergue, [N]ΩΛΑΙΩΝ. Sambon 806a (this coin illustrated). Jameson 58 (this coin). Rutter 50. Historia Numorum Italy 605.
Very rare. Lovely old cabinet tone and good very fine

Ex Sambon-Canessa 22-23 June 1906, Guilhou, 68; M&M 79, 1994, 9; Triton VIII, 2005, Tony Hardy, 21; Nomos 6, 2012, 2 and CNG 94, 2013, 8 sales.
Nola was a native Italic city of Campania that had absorbed much Greek culture through exposure to the important Greek colony of Neapolis. Nola was closely aligned with its neighbour and reportedly supplied 2,000 men to defend Neapolis against the Romans in 327 BC. However, these fled after the city was taken through trickery. Never forgetting the role that Nola had played in the defense of Neapolis, the Romans marched against the city in 313 BC, devastating its territory and forcing its surrender. This didrachm also reflects the influence of Neapolis on the coinage of the Campanian cities. Here the female head and man-faced bull crowned by Nike types are clearly derived from similar types struck at Neapolis in the fourth century BC. While the bound female head here was probably intended to depict Nola, the eponymous nymph of the city, it closely imitates a head thought to represent Parthenope on Neapolitan issues.