Greetings, I didn't grasp the rarity of this new acquisition until I had it in hand. It was a spontaneous bid during a live auction I happened upon after perusing numisbids. I've only been able to find one other example of the "ΔYRA" reverse. That piece was auctioned via a Roma e-sale, 2015; with the description, "Extremely rare." My coin is a double die match to the Roma example. It's interesting, with all the classical states in between, that the magistrates of Dyrrachium wished to copy the style of Corinth. Corinth is 380 miles away, by road. The stylistic similarities would cause one to infer that a few Corinthian Celators gained new employment in Dyrrachium; though I can't find research to back this theory up. The representation of Pegasos is as good as any in antiquity. The bust of Athena, though beautiful, stylistically does not compare to the finer pieces of Corinth or Sicily. Like many Greek city states, one of Dyrrachium's Patron deities was Herakles; hence the club. The dolphins, of course, a nod to Adriatic Sea coastal living. Though I've been failing miserably, I still intend on consolidating my collection in the next few years. I think this piece makes the cut as a keeper. ILLYRIA, Dyrrhachium, (350-300 B.C.), silver stater, (8.35 g), obv. Pegasos with pointed wing, flying to right, plain below / ΔYRA Head of Athena in Corinthian helmet to right, with club behind, two dolphins at base (S.1895, Cal. 20 [same dies], cf.BMC 4-11).Attractive light tone, extremely fine and a rare mint for these Corinthian type staters. Roma's example: Coin photo source: https://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=1748&category=36653&lot=1554768 Post anything relevant. -Michael
Dyrrachium was a colony of Corinth. A good web page for these Dyrrachium staters is http://asklapiadas.ancients.info/03Corinth.html . The author says "During Timoleon's campaign against Syracuse in 338 BC, similar staters were minted in many city states with traditional ties to Corinth in the South-West Balkan area for several years ... Most probably, these were the very first local coins produced in Illyria." Some people believe Corinth cut the dies and sent them out. That's probably wrong, probably the die cutters travelled to the mint. Lee Brice said the same thing at his lecture at the ANS on Friday. (Professor Brice's lecture was on the cronology of period V Corinthian staters and very interesting. Not sure if it was recorded.)
