Lucania, Drachm, Laos, c. 510-500 BC; AR (g 2,35; mm 15; h 12); ΛAFZ (Iawi), man-faced bull advancing r., with head l., on ground-line of dots between two lines; border of dots between two linear circles. Rv. Same type incuse. HNItaly 2271; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG ANS -.
Extremely rare, old cabinet tone, good very fine.

Ex Artemide Kunkauctionen GmbH, Auction XXXIX, lot 51.

Laos, on the river of the same name, was a Sybaris colony founded at the point where one of the overland routes from Sybaris reached the Tyrrhenian Sea. After the destruction of Sybaris, a portion of the Sybarite refugees took up their residence there (On the relationship between the coinages of Laos and Sybaris in the fifth century, see C.M. Kraay, 'The coinage of Sybaris after 510', NC 1958, pp. 13-37). This specimen is probably the fifth known. Three specimens are in public collections: the first (2.35 g.) Berlin Inv. 7441. Beschr. 338,4. Tf. 13; the second (2.16 g.) Paris, ex de Luynes 444. E. Babelon, Traitè, II/1, 2102, Tf. 68.2; the third (2.15g.) Providence Inv. 40.015-154, ex Greene. The fourth specimen published by G. Giacosa, RIN 1982, pp. 95-100, Fig. 3.