★ A Unique and Unpublished Etruscan Coin ★

Etruria, Populonia AR 5 Units. Late 5th - 4th centuries BC. Crested Corinthian helmet to left, mark of value below cheek guard / Blank. Unpublished in the standard references, including I. Vecchi, Etruscan Coins I. 3.59g, 14mm.

Extremely Fine; sound metal, test(?) scratch on reverse. Unique and of considerable numismatic importance.

Ex collection of a British Connoisseur, part II, Artemide Aste s.r.l. (San Marino), Auction 52, 26-7 October 2019, lot 18;
Privately purchased from Spink & Son Ltd, 1968.

This hitherto unknown type is of a very accomplished glyptic classical art style that was achieved at Etruria in the 5th and 4th centuries BC, on a weight standard that places it a prior to the late 5th or 4th century BC, similar to the other 5-Unit issues, cf. EC I, p. 87, 9 and pp. 90-91, 12 and 13. This weight standard is close to the Sicilian and Tarantine silver Litra, theoretically of about 0.86g. The only other recorded Etruscan silver coin with an obverse depicting a Corinthian helmet type, without a crest, is also from the third part of the same British Connoisseur collection which appeared in Artemide Aste 53, in the Republic of San Marino on 2-3 May, 2020, lot 8 (0.41g). This smaller example is notable as it displays three value mark pellets which may be interpreted as a Trias on approximately double the Litra standard of the 5th century BC attested for at Tarentum and several Sicilian mints where an underlying Italic metric system survived the introduction of purely Greek silver denominations from circa 550 BC. It is by no means a common occurrence to discover new Etruscan coin types; this beautiful coin represents an important addition to the corpus of Etruscan coinage.