TYPE Ancient Greece, Metapontion ? (Lucania), ca. 5th - 4th c. BC, bronze AE12 (hexas?)
DESCRIPTION .
Obv: Stalk of barley
Rev: Head of bull (ram?) facing, two pellets below (?)
REFERENCE: SG -, Cop -, LE -, L3 -, cf. Del 311-2, cf. Noe 346.2
GRADING: VF, rough red-brown patina, irregular edge, rare
ORDER INFO: G2599, $58
A mysterious little bronze of charactersitic design, not matching anything in the consulted references. Indeed, the only type we've encountered with these devices are some of the early diobols of Metapontion - these of course in silver, with incuse reverse and nominally from the pre-bronze coinage period of 550-450 BC, listed in the Delapierre catalog; the characteristic facing horned animal head is given there as a bull's (or bucranium), though the downward curved horns could also imply a ram.