Got this Magna Grecia stater from Poseidonia at a mostly modern and World Auction. There wasn't much interest in the ancients so I got this one pretty reasonably. Not a coin you see every day and while it's a bit rough around the edges it's a very pleasing coin in hand with lots of detail. Just goes to show deals are out there if you are looking. Hope you enjoy it as much as I am. ΠΟΜΕΣ Poseidon standing right, wearing chlamys around shoulders, brandishing trident ΠΟΜΕΣ (retrograde) Bull standing to left, above Poseidonia, Lucania 470-445 BC 8.01g SNG ANS 661; HN Italy 1114 Ex-Geoffrey Bell auction September 2017 lot 896
Great coin, but you really ought to be embarrassed by how good a deal you got on it... . It's a very nice score, indeed.
I like the reverse and the lower half of the obverse but there is something about the face and trident that makes me question a possibility of tooling. I see the head as too small in proportion to the lower part. I would suggest sending it off for a Sear or NGC opinion. I am no expert in these and I have not seen the coin in person. Neither have I pulled up images of many coins online looking for matches of confirmation of my fears. That means I should shut up and go away. My coin of the style is fourree so means nothing but I'll show it here anyway. My legends are retrograde which I might suspect points to a slightly earlier date.
Nice coin Doug. I always respect your opinion. In hand under a loop there doesn't appear to be any sign that the head is tooled but looking at the picture again I can see where that appears to be the case. 3 ancient dealers have seen the coin in hand and didn't raise any issues with the coin. All three wanted to bid on it but when they heard I was bidding they graciously allowed me to be the only bid (for which I was grateful!).
