Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Diobol
| Issuer | Velia |
|---|---|
| Year | 300 BC - 280 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | HN Italy#1314, SNG ANS 2#1278, Williams#636-637 |
| Obverse description | Facing right, the head of a nymph rendered in fine Phocaean style, her hair enclosed within an elaborate sakkos tied at the crown; the fabric of the headcovering is carefully detailed. Below the chin, the Greek letter Epsilon (Ε) serves as a control mark within the field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Ε |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Velia — the Greek colony founded by Phocaean refugees around 540 BC on the Tyrrhenian coast of Lucania — maintained its Hellenic monetary traditions long after neighboring Italian peoples had shifted to different systems. By the late fourth century, the city was increasingly pressured by the Lucanian tribes encroaching from the interior, a tension that runs through the entire late coinage sequence. Williams' die study, the definitive reference for Velian silver, places this diobol among the final phase of the city's owl-series production before fabric and types shift noticeably in the following decades.