Bruttium, Carthaginian occupation under Hannibal. Circa 215-205 BC. EL Three-eighths Shekel (14mm, 2.86 g, 12h). Janiform head of Tanit, wearing wreath of grain ears. R/ Zeus, brandishing thunderbolt and holding scepter, in quadriga driven right by Nike. Robinson, Second pl. V, 3 (Capua); Jenkins & Lewis Group XVI, 488 (Capua) = BMCRR 147 (Capua); HN Italy 2013; SNG ANS 146 (Capua); SNG Copenhagen 357. Good VF, lightly toned, well centred and Rare.
This coinage, previously attributed to Capua in Campania, has been conclusively reattributed to the Carthaginians in Bruttium under Hannibal (see M.H. Crawford, Provenances, Attributions, and Chronology of Some Early Italian Coinages," CH IX [2002], p. 274, and HN Italy). While it is likely that this issue was minted in Bruttium by the Carthaginians, there is a possibility that these coins were struck in Carthage and transported to South Italy for Hannibal's use (see G.K. Jenkins, "Some coins of Hannibal's time," Studi per Laura Breglia, Parte I, Generalia-Numismatica Greca. Bollettino di Numismatica, Supplemento al No. 4. [Rome, 1987], pp. 223-4). "