Lot 2359

Description

Zeugitania, Carthage, (c.270-264 B.C.), electrum sixth stater or hemidrachm, (2.026 grams), obv. head of Tanit to left, crowned with wreath of corn, wearing earring with single pendant and simple necklace, dotted border, rev. free horse standing to right, palm tree behind, single exergue line below, line border, (S.6472 (described as 'Unique' and illustrated), Jenkins Group IX No.401 [same dies, dies noted in Jenkins p.110, Pl.18] = Muller II, 85, 57, = British Museum example). Score mark on horse's rump, otherwise good very fine and probably the second known example, together with sealed photo certificate of authenticity.

Ex Varesi, fixed price sale No.III, 1998. Jenkins and Lewis place the then unique fractional piece in the British Museum in this group because of a style that is contemporary with this coin. The weight for this piece and the British Museum example (2.06 grams) make it a shade too heavy for it to be a fifth of a stater of 9.4 grams (Group III) or a quarter of a Phoenician shekel stater (c.1.95 grams). The gold content is high and is in keeping with the norm of Group IX while the style of Tanit tends to place it no earlier than Group IX. Jenkins and Lewis suggest that the large staters of Group IX were struck on an Attic standard and hence it fits as an Attic hemidrachm. This in turn makes the coin a sixth stater rather than a fifth stater.