Corinth, silver stater, c. 345-307 BC

Corinth, silver stater, c. 345-307 BC; 8.57 g, c. 21 mm, die axis 6 h. Athena left, wearing a Corinthian helmet pushed back on her head; beneath the neck a small Α control-letter. Pegasos flying right with curled wing; below, coppa-shaped Q control-mark. Toned silver with even wear on the highest relief; both control letters clear and margins broad. Ravel Corinth 921 (Α / Q); Calciati Pegasi 504; BCD Corinth 522.

Corinth introduced the Pegasos stater in the late sixth century BC and by the mid-fourth century its coins circulated from Sicily to the Levant. The letter and symbol beneath each type identify individual magistrates or workshops, allowing modern cataloguers to arrange them into a detailed sequence. This issue belongs to the “Later Pegasi” period when Corinth, allied with Macedon but still commercially independent, financed widespread maritime trade and mercenary recruitment with its distinctive staters struck on the reduced Attic-Corinthian standard of about 8.6 g.