The New York Sale
Auction 42 9 Jan 2018
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Sicily, Messana. Silver Tetradrachm (17.44 g), ca. 420-413 BC. The nymph Messana, holding kentron and reins, driving slow biga of mules right; above, Nike flying right, crowning mules with diadem; in exergue, two dolphins confronted. rev. MEΣ-Σ-ANI-O-N, hare springing right; below, dolphin right. Caltabiano 499 (D202'/R207); SNG ANS 361 (same dies); SNG Lockett 826 (same obv. die). Well struck and from finely executed dies. Lustrous surfaces with a tiny area of horn silver at 6 o'clock on the reverse. Beautiful fresh dies. Nearly Mint State. Estimated Value $3,000
From the Dionysus Collection.
The mule biga and leaping hare types of this coin reflect the strong political and iconographic influence of Rhegion across the strait in southern Magna Graecia in the fifth century BC. Both types were originally introduced by Anaxilas, the tyrant of Rhegion (494-476 BC), around 480 BC. The mule biga celebrated his victory in the Olympic Games in 484 or 480 BC while the hare supposedly referred to his importation of the animal to Sicily for hunting. Notably, while these types disappeared from the coinage of Rhegion after the death of Anaxilas, the hare became a civic badge of Messana that continued in use into the late fifth century BC. This coin illustrates the early transformation of the Rhegian types into civic types appropriate to Messana for here the local nymph rather than the tyrant drives the biga.
From the Dionysus Collection.
The mule biga and leaping hare types of this coin reflect the strong political and iconographic influence of Rhegion across the strait in southern Magna Graecia in the fifth century BC. Both types were originally introduced by Anaxilas, the tyrant of Rhegion (494-476 BC), around 480 BC. The mule biga celebrated his victory in the Olympic Games in 484 or 480 BC while the hare supposedly referred to his importation of the animal to Sicily for hunting. Notably, while these types disappeared from the coinage of Rhegion after the death of Anaxilas, the hare became a civic badge of Messana that continued in use into the late fifth century BC. This coin illustrates the early transformation of the Rhegian types into civic types appropriate to Messana for here the local nymph rather than the tyrant drives the biga.