Lot 1516
Bruttium, Carthaginian occupation. Electrum 3/8 Shekel (2.69 g), ca. 216-211 BC. Janiform female heads, wreathed with grain ears. Reverse: Zeus, holding thunderbolt and scepter, standing in quadriga driven by Nike right. Jenkins & Lewis 487-93 (Capua); SNG ANS 146 (Capua); HN Italy 2013. Very Rare. Nice and yellow. Pleasing. Very Fine. Estimate Value $4,000 - 5,000
From the Hanbery Collection; Purchased from Frank Kovacs 1980s.
This attractive electrum fraction from Bruttium seems a little confused about its identity. It was struck during Hannibal's occupation of the region in the Second Punic War (218-201 BC). The use of an electrum alloy and the shekel weight standard is typical of Carthaginian coinage of the period, but the types are closely modeled on the silver quadrigati (didrachms) struck by the Roman Republic before the introduction of the denarius ca. 211 BC. The reverse depicting Jupiter in a four-horse chariot driven by Victory is directly copied from the quadrigati while the obverse has been modified to better fit the Carthaginian context. While the Roman quadrigati depict a laureate male janiform head - presumably Janus himself, the god of beginnings and endings (especially in relation to war) - on this electrum piece the janiform head is female and wears a grain wreath to indicate that a form of the Punic goddess Tanit was intended.
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| Realized $14,688 |
