Calabria, Tarentum.   Nomos circa 510-450, AR 7.90 g. TARAΣ retrograde Oecist seated on dolphin r., l. arm extended; below, pecten. Rev. The same type l. incuse. Vlasto 66 (these dies). Fischer-Bossert 5. Jameson 80 (these dies). Gulbenkian 16 (these dies). SNG Ashmolean 190 (these dies). Historia Numorum Italy 826.
Very rare. Wonderful old cabinet tone, an insignificant die break
on obverse, otherwise very fine

Privately purchased from M&M in 1979 (sold with the original purchase invoice of 1979).
Dating from the late sixth century, this nomos shows Phalantus naked, riding a dolphin, expressing a motif destined for popular success in the coins of Taras: the dolphin brings Phalantus safe and sound across the sea (also evidenced by the presence of a pecten in the lower field of the coin), and conveys him to Italy, according to the dictate of the Delphic oracle. We learn from the Periegesis of Greece of Pausania (II cent. A.D.) that statues of Taras, Phalantus, and Phalantus' dolphin (cf. Paus. X 13) were among the votive offerings (anathemata) presented to Delphi by the Tarantines with a fifth of the spoils taken from the Peucetii and the Iapygians. The reverse has the same representation as the obverse, in incuse, using a well-known technique of early coinage that was deployed at many other Southern Italian cities besides Taras.