TARENTUM SILVER STATER – ISSUE OF MAGISTRATE XENOCRATES WITH CUTTLEFISH SYMBOL EX SALTON COLLECTION – CHOICE XF NGC GRADED GREEK CALABRIA COIN (Inv. 18496)

$950.00

18496. CALABRIA. TARENTUM. Ca. 240–228 BC.
Silver Didrachm (Nomos), 6.63 g, 20 mm. Issue of magistrate Xenocrates.
Obv. ΞΕΝΟΚΡΑΤΗΣ, bearded rider left, saluting, TK control monogram and pileus in upper right field.
Rev. TAPAΣ, dolphin rider left, holding trident and his drapery, Σ control monogram in right field, stylized waves below with cuttlefish swimming at right.
HGC 1, 904; HN Italy 1058; SNG ANS 1259.
Ex Salton Collection, likely acquired in the 1950s–1960s when Mr. Salton owned a numismatic firm in New York.
Ex Vilmar Numismatics FPL V (Summer/Fall 2023), no. 3.
NGC graded CHOICE XF, Strike 3/5, Surface 3/5, iridescent highlights over gray toning, popular variety with the cuttlefish symbol.

Tarentum had a reputation for its horses and a distinctive type of cavalry training, which focused on producing skilled horsemen armed with javelins and often carrying a large shield. Such Tarentine cavalrymen were employed as mercenaries in many armies throughout the Hellenistic world and aspects of their training were regularly depicted on the nomoi of Tarentum in the third century BC.