Cost vs Quality. A Coin of Terina

Bruttium, Terina, c. 300 BC. AR Drachm (15mm, 2.33g, 12h). Female head l., wearing triple-pendant earring; [triskeles] behind. R/ Nike seated l. on cippus, holding bird in extended r. hand; monogram to l.

Whilst the coins of Sicily are often considered amongst the most beautiful in the ancient Greek world, there are examples from southern Italy which I believe rival them. I have been keeping my eye out for a Nomos from Terina which is a great example of such a coin; however they can be very expensive. To get an example without breaking the bank I have bought a drachm from a Bertolami Fine Art auction which is affordable simply because of its grading - nearly VF - and the obverse is off-center.

This is always a balancing act. Everyone would love to have the perfect coin but such coins are extremely rare and consequently very expensive. There is therefore always a trade off between aesthetic qualities and cost which is determined by the reason you need the coin - is it for display, research, to complete a gap in a collection, to have a reference example and so on. The costs rise exponentially as you get towards the very best quality and so part of the art of the collector is to get just the right point on the quality-cost scale for the purpose intended. Here is an example Terina drachm from the Classical Numismatic Group. My acquisition is above.

The foundation of Terina is a story of the commercial competition between Lokroi Epizephrioi and Croton. Lokroi conquered Temesa, which was closely tied to the city of Croton and was rich in copper, in about 480 BC. Terina was founded shortly afterwards by Croton and protected the route from the Tyrrhenian Sea to Croton, It quickly started minting its own distinctive coinage. Terina came under attack by Thurium in the late 5th century - unsurprising given the origins of Thurium from the historic enemy of Croton, Sybaris - but was drive off. It was captured by the Bruttians in 356 BC and eventually was destroyed in by Hannibal in the Second Punic War.

One addendum to this is that my recommendation is to get the very best quality you can afford. As your expertise and collection expands it is typical to upgrade the your coins to finer examples and those bargains bought earlier can seem like sunk costs.

As an addendum, nearly three years later I bought this coin

Bruttium, Terina. AR Drachm, c. 350-300 BC. Obv. Head of nymph right, wearing necklace and earring with three pendants. Rev. Nike seated left on cippus, holding bird with right hand and leaning left hand on cippus; Δ to left.