Corinthia, Corinth
Stater 550-500, AR 8.61 g. Pegasus flying l.; below, [koppa]. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square with projections in each quarter. Calciati, Pegasi 31. Ravel 70 (O54/R52). BCD Korinth 3 (this coin).
Very rare and probably the finest specimen in private hands. Perfectly struck and centred
on a very broad flan and with a wonderful old cabinet tone. Good extremely fine

Ex Lanz 105, 2001, BCD, 3 and Nomos 3 2011, 93 sales. From the APCW collection.
Corinthian staters like this extremely attractive and well-centered example served as the standard trade coinage for western Greece, Illyria, and Sicily through the fifth and fourth centuries BC. The Pegasus obverse type was so widely recognized that the coins came to be popularly known as “colts” in the same way that Athenian tetradrachms were known as “owls”. Pegasus was associated with Corinth through the city’s famous hero Bellerophon. With divine assistance and taking the winged horse as his mount, Bellerophon killed the Chimeira, a monstrous three-bodied creature that was terrorizing Lycia. Unfortunately, having completed his heroic task, Bellerophon became full of himself. Forgetting that he was still a mortal, he attempted to fly with Pegasus to the top of Mount Olympos in order to take a place among the gods. Such outrageous hubris was not to be tolerated and as Bellerophon began his ascent, Zeus sent a gadfly to bite Pegasus as he flew. The pain of the bite caused the winged horse to buck and throw his rider back to earth. Bellerophon was blinded by a thorn bush that he fell into and lived out the rest of his days in shame. Pegasus, however, became the packhorse for the thunderbolts of Zeus.