Picked this one up today at theTorex coin show. Decent coin for the type with a good provenance. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-147414 Lucania, Metapontom stater Raised barley corn Incuse barley corn Metapontom, 440-510 BC 7.72g Tight flan series NOE 243-256; HN Italy 1485 Ex-DM collection, Ex-HJB, Ex-Calgary coin An Achaean colony of great antiquity, Metapontion was destroyed and refounded early in the 6th century by colonists from Sybaris under the leadership of Leukippos. The city occupied an exceptionally fertile plain on the Gulf of Tarentum, which explains the use of the barley ear as its civic badge. Metapontion, along with Sybaris and Kroton produced the earliest coinage in Magna Graecia. The coins of these cities share three features: weight standard, broad and thin flans, and incuse reverses. These features were then adopted by neighboring mints at Kaulonia and elsewhere in southern Italy. While the reasoning behind the choice of these shared features is not clear, the common weight and style facilitated circulation between the cities of south Italy. The mixed contents of the earliest hoards from the region support this idea of free circulation of currency. It is interesting that these common features, indigenous to south Italy, also tended to keep the coins in south Italy. They are rarely found elsewhere in Italy, not even in Sicily. After approximately 510 B.C., the date of the destruction of Sybaris by Kroton, the fabric of the coins throughout south Italy became smaller and thicker, though still with incuse reverses. In the years between 480 and 430 B.C., sooner in Tarentum and later in Metapontion, the incuse issues were replaced by a two sided coinage. Let's see your incuse coins
@Jay GT4 , you got me stumped. I have been toying with getting an example pretty much the same condition and type as yours. Just haven’t pulled the trigger yet! That is a great coin, and I really like it. Congrats, and thank you for the write up... it added some clarity as to why I want one even more. I recently put a substandard bid on one of these, hoping to score cheap. I did not play to win. Shame on me. (RATS) I am gonna cheat... I do not have a reverse image incuse as I think you are asking for. But, i DO have several incuse coins. Here is one around the time of your gorgeous coin: Iona Kolophon AR Tetartemorion 530-520 BCE Archaic Apollo Incuse Punch 0.15g 4.5mm- SNG Kayhan 343
Thanks! Nice tiny coin! I've wanted one of these for a long time. This one appeared today and I was able to buy it for less than half of what the previous owner bought it for from Berk. Sadly the previous owner died and his collection was dispersed.
Mine is only a 1/3 stater but shows a strong double strike on the reverse making the grain have two center ridges. Note the incuse outer ring of dots is discontinuous due to the double strike. Usually these coins have the same design on both sides but the small 1/12 starter has a single kernel on the reverse rather than the whole ear of grain.
Great coin Jay. Lucania, Metapontum, 510 - 470 BC Silver Stater, 25mm, 7.71 grams Obverse: Ear of barley with six grains either side. Reverse: Incuse of obverse. Noe202 // HN Italy1482
I usually go Saturday morning but this time I had to settle for Sunday. I already know what Sveto has so I was looking forward to seeing Robert's pieces, unfortunately only this one caught my eye. I missed a nice Side Tetradrachm that someone else bought cheap...
