Very interesting, I never
had heard of Pandosia before and did a
bit of research, but the outcome is quite mysterious
.
In none of the usual online
collections there is a coin like this. Especially none with such a
head on the
obverse. And never the
legend reads ΠΑΝΔΟΣΙEΩΝ, it is usually ΠΑΝΔΟΣΙΝ or even shorter.
None of these coins has a
weight where the 18.3 g would make sense.
But:In Alfred W.
Hands, "Coins of
Magna Graecia. The coinage of the Greek colonies of southern
Italy",
London 1909, there is beginning on page 187 a description of the coinage of Pandosia. On page 193 there is a picture of a coin with an
obverse like on the coin presented here, probably representing the
river god Kratis. But unfortunately the text seems not to mention this coin
:
https://archive.org/details/coinsofmagnagrae00hand/page/192/mode/2upIn
Prospero Parisio, "Rariora Magnae Graeciae numismata", Nuremberg 1683, you find on plate VI as number 7 the picture of a coin
type quite exactly corresponding to the coin presented here. The
head on the
obverse, the tripod and the
legend are the same:
https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_PdFflkUOMA0C/page/n75/mode/2upBut I didn't find in the text (perhaps because of lack of Latin skills
) any reference to these tables.
Is the coin presented here a reappearance of the coin pictured in the book of Parisio? Or is it a modern remake of this obscure coin? Because of the strange
weight I tend to the latter, but the coincidence with the Parisio coin is very astonishing.
So it seems to be quite a puzzle
.
Regards
Altamura