FAQs

What makes a coin valuable?

I have coins to sell, what’s the next step?

How will my purchases be shipped?

What happens if I’m not entirely happy with my purchase?

FM22590

Calabria, Tarentum, silver Nomos

Name: Calabria, Tarentum, silver Nomos
Brand: Sovereign Rarities Live
SKU: FM22590
Price: 1000.0 GBP
Availability: OutOfStock

Calabria, Tarentum, silver Nomos, c.340-325 BC, Kal-, magistrate, rider on horseback to right, holding lance in right hand and shield with two javelins in left, KAΛ below, ⊢-Λ-Δ around, rev. Taras seated on dolphin right, flanked by stars, holding Phrygian helmet, KAΛ below, TAPAΣ upwards to left, 8.00g, 6h (Vlasto 545 [these dies]; Fischer-Bossert 761 [V297/R589]; HN Italy 896; HGC 1, 794). Attractive, grey patina, about extremely fine.

Tarentum was founded by colonists from Sparta in the 8^th century BC. In this series the dolphin-rider is variously described as the son of the god Poseidon, Taras, after whom the city was named, who was shipwrecked and saved by a dolphin which his father had sent to rescue him; or Phalanthos, the leader of the Spartan colonists, who was also shipwrecked and rescued by a dolphin; or an unnamed oekist, the term given to the lead-colonist who had authority to choose which site to colonize and direct the colony's activities in its early stages. The horse-riders are depicted at different ages, some with armour suggesting they are warriors, and others with laurel wreaths suggesting they are the winners at important celebratory games.