Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XIV 21 Sep 2017
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Sicily, Syracuse AR Tetradrachm. Deinomenid Tyranny. Time of Hieron I, circa 475-470 BC. Charioteer, holding kentron and reins, driving slow quadriga right; Nike flying to right above, crowning horses / Head of Arethusa right, wearing earring, necklace and headband, her hair tied in a krobylos; ΣVRΑKΟΣΙΟΝ and four dolphins around. Boehringer -, (V140/R208). 17.45g, 25mm, 2h.
Mint State; exceptional metal quality and preservation for a Syracusan tetradrachm of this period. Superb lustre with vivid iridescence. Extremely Rare; this die pairing not recorded by Boehringer.
Ex Dr. Murray Gell-Mann Collection, Roma Numismatics XI, 7 April 2016, lot 105;
This coin must certainly have a pre-2000 provenance, however this cataloguer has been unable to find it.
This coin displays not only an incredibly sharp strike from fresh dies in the centre of a large planchet, but also a wonderfully deep cabinet tone with gold iridescence on the obverse and vivid green flashes radiating out from the portrait on the reverse. This has yielded a coin with gem-like qualities; it is without a doubt one of the most beautiful Deinomenid tetradrachms to have come to market in many years.
Following the Battle of Himera in 480 BC, Syracuse had been unchallenged in Sicily. The reign of Hieron therefore was characterised by a period of great expansion in the power and prestige of Syracuse, and the effective carte blanche to do as he pleased; he removed the inhabitants of Naxos and Katane to Leontinoi, peopled Katane (which he renamed Aitna) with Dorians, concluded an alliance with Akragas, and espoused the cause of the Lokrians against Anaxilas, tyrant of Rhegion. Around the time when this coin must have been struck, Hieron achieved his most important military victory at the Battle of Cumae in 474 BC. Responding to a call for aid from Aristodemos, the tyrant of Cumae, to counter an Etruscan invasion, Hieron sent a fleet of triremes to assist the Cumaeans, whose combined navies met and defeated the Etruscan forces in the Bay of Naples. This defeat caused the Etruscans to lose much of their influence in Italy; they lost control of the seas and their territories were eventually absorbed piecemeal by the Romans, Samnites and Gauls. The Syracusans dedicated a captured Etruscan helmet at the great panhellenic sanctuary at Olympia, a piece of armour found in the German excavations there. Perhaps remembering this bitter defeat and hoping to avenge their ancestors, the Etruscans would later readily join the ill-fated Athenian expedition against Syracuse in 415 BC.
Mint State; exceptional metal quality and preservation for a Syracusan tetradrachm of this period. Superb lustre with vivid iridescence. Extremely Rare; this die pairing not recorded by Boehringer.
Ex Dr. Murray Gell-Mann Collection, Roma Numismatics XI, 7 April 2016, lot 105;
This coin must certainly have a pre-2000 provenance, however this cataloguer has been unable to find it.
This coin displays not only an incredibly sharp strike from fresh dies in the centre of a large planchet, but also a wonderfully deep cabinet tone with gold iridescence on the obverse and vivid green flashes radiating out from the portrait on the reverse. This has yielded a coin with gem-like qualities; it is without a doubt one of the most beautiful Deinomenid tetradrachms to have come to market in many years.
Following the Battle of Himera in 480 BC, Syracuse had been unchallenged in Sicily. The reign of Hieron therefore was characterised by a period of great expansion in the power and prestige of Syracuse, and the effective carte blanche to do as he pleased; he removed the inhabitants of Naxos and Katane to Leontinoi, peopled Katane (which he renamed Aitna) with Dorians, concluded an alliance with Akragas, and espoused the cause of the Lokrians against Anaxilas, tyrant of Rhegion. Around the time when this coin must have been struck, Hieron achieved his most important military victory at the Battle of Cumae in 474 BC. Responding to a call for aid from Aristodemos, the tyrant of Cumae, to counter an Etruscan invasion, Hieron sent a fleet of triremes to assist the Cumaeans, whose combined navies met and defeated the Etruscan forces in the Bay of Naples. This defeat caused the Etruscans to lose much of their influence in Italy; they lost control of the seas and their territories were eventually absorbed piecemeal by the Romans, Samnites and Gauls. The Syracusans dedicated a captured Etruscan helmet at the great panhellenic sanctuary at Olympia, a piece of armour found in the German excavations there. Perhaps remembering this bitter defeat and hoping to avenge their ancestors, the Etruscans would later readily join the ill-fated Athenian expedition against Syracuse in 415 BC.