Lot 3438

Description

Italy, Bruttium, Rhegion, (c.450 B.C. [Arnold-Biucchi chronology]), silver tetradrachm, (14.21 g), obv. lion's head facing, within dotted border, rev. Iokastos the traditional founder of the city naked to waist and seated to left, holding staff and resting left hand on hip, all within laurel wreath, legend around anti-clockwise, RECI NOS (most letters are reversed), (S.498, Herzfelder, H., "Catalogue des Tetradrachmes et Drachmes de Rhegion" 6, [obv.D3, rev.R5 same dies], [Revue Numismatique (RN) 1956], Paris de Luynes 791 = Num. Chron, Pl.VIII, 2; Berlin example of similar weight). Interesting die break on the reverse, slightly off centred on the reverse otherwise very fine, and rare.

Ex Alan Jordan Collection and purchased from Noble Numismatics Sale 78 (lot 4930). The reverse die shows a breaking up and a similar example with the same degree of die-breaking occurs on Plate I No.6 (the BM example) in RN 1956. Herzfelder in his extensive study on this coinage knew of 5 examples of this coin from these dies. Many of the examples known are in public collections. For all dies Herzfelder was only able to find 46 coins of this type together with the four from Randazzo make only 50 surviving examples today. The coin is of light weight and occurs on several published examples including another from the same dies in the Berlin Collection (14.14 g).