GREEK. LUCANIA, Sybaris. Circa 550-510 BC. Silver Stater (7.08g). VM in exergue, bull standing left, head reverted, on triple exergual line of dots between parallel lines; border of dots between concentric circles / Same type, reversed and incuse, with exergual line and border both dentate. SNG ANS 830; SNG Lockett 455; SNG Lloyd 449; HN Italy 1729. Very attractive old cabinet toning. One of the finest known examples for the issue. aEF. This silver stater of Sybaris recalls one of the richest and most refined cities of Magna Graecia, founded circa 720 BC on the fertile plain between the Crathis and Sybaris rivers. From about 530 BC the city issued distinctive relief/incuse coinage, with a powerful bull walking left, likely a river god alluding to the waters that sustained its prosperity. Technically sophisticated and visually striking, these coins functioned as both currency and a display of civic wealth. Though Sybaris was destroyed by Croton in 510 BC and its site deliberately flooded, its coinage remains a vivid witness to a brief but dazzling age of luxury and power. (P)

Estimate: AUD 5000