Provenance established through publication in major reference books always helps increase demand for a coin, as seen with a silver stater or nomos issued around 520 B.C. in ancient Greece that was published in the 1958 book Coinage of Caulonia by Sydney Philip Noe.

The provenance dates back to 1924 when the coin was offered as part of the C.S. Bement Collection, and it would later be sold in 1984 as part of the Bank Leu/Numismatic Fine Arts auction of ancient coins from the collection of Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University.

Graded by Numismatic Guaranty Co. Ancients as Choice About Uncirculated with 5/5 ratings for both strike and surface, it depicts a full-length figure of Apollo, nude, with the reverse being sunken, allowing for the relief seen on the figural side.

Heritage writes, “On this magnificent piece, Apollo’s entire nude body is shown in a refined Archaic form, striding to the right, and with what has traditionally been described as a small winged daemon on his left arm; to his right stands a stag, sacred to both Apollo and his sister Artemis.”

The artistically significant coin realized $45,600 on Jan. 9 at Heritage Auctions.

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