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Stater
| Issuer | Baletium |
|---|---|
| Year | 480 BC - 460 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Stater (3) |
| 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 |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | FΑΛΕΘΑS |
| Reverse description | A large crescent dominates the field, its horns pointing upward in the characteristic Messapian emblematic style, rendered in high relief against the plain silver field. Beneath the crescent, a dolphin is depicted horizontally, accompanied by a single pellet below it. The retrograde legend ͰΕ ΒΑΛΕΘΑS is inscribed within or around the field in archaic Greek characters, serving as the ethnic identifier of the issuing community of Baletium. The reverse design is unframed, consistent with early South Italian hammered coinage of this period. |
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| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Additional information |
Baletium was a small Messapian settlement in the heel of Italy — modern Puglia — whose coinage output was extremely limited, placing this stater among the rarer issues of the Messapian monetary tradition. The Messapians, an Illyrian-descended people linguistically distinct from their Italic and Greek neighbors, began striking coin only under the influence of nearby Tarentum, whose own silver coinage dominated the region's commerce throughout the fifth century.
The de Luynes reference traces to the celebrated collection of Honoré Théodoric d'Albert, duc de Luynes, donated to the Bibliothèque nationale in 1862 — its appearance there suggests this type was known from a very small number of specimens even by the nineteenth century.