BRUTTIUM. Kaulonia. Circa 475-425 BC. Didrachm or Nomos (Silver, 22 mm, 7.94 g, 11 h).
KAVΛ Apollo, nude, striding right, holding laurel branch in his upraised right hand and, on his outstretched left arm, small figure of a daimon running to right; to right, stag standing right, head to left.
Rev. KAV Stag standing right; to right, laurel branch. Dewing 489 (
same dies). HN Italy 2046. Noe, Caulonia 98. Lightly toned and unusually sharply struck, a remarkably attractive piece. Extremely fine.
From the Kleinkunst Collection, ex Sotheby's, 8 July 1996, 7 ('Highly important Greek and Roman coins') and from the A. Trampitsch Collection, Vinchon, 13-14 November 1986, 44.
Kaulonia was an Achaian apoikia founded on the eastern shore of Bruttium, which gained its wealth from the export of timber from the nearby Calabrian Apennine for shipbuilding (Thuk. 7.25.2). The Archaic and Classical coinage of the city features its principal deity, Apollo, on the obverse, but the output came to an abrupt end after its capture and destruction by Dionysios I of Syracuse in 387 BC.
