The New York Sale
Auction 42 9 Jan 2018
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Sicily, Selinos. Silver Tetradrachm (17.04 g), ca. 440-430 BC. ΣEΛ-IN-[ONTION], Artemis, holding reins, driving quadriga right; beside her, Apollo standing, drawing bow; in exergue, grain ear. rev. Σ-EΛ-INONTI-ON, Selinos standing left, holding phiale over altar and laurel branch; on base of altar, rooster standing left; behind, selinon leaf above bull standing left on basis. Schwabacher 26; SNG ANS 700 (same dies). Excellent detail and fine style, lightly toned. Very Rare. Choice Very Fine. Estimated Value $2,500
From the Dionysus Collection.
Ex CNG 66 (19 May 2004), lot 126.
Selinos was founded as the westernmost of the Greek colonies on Sicily around 628 BC and named for the large quantities of wild celery (selinon in Greek) that grew in the vicinity. Its location and the ambitions of the city frequently brought it into conflict with the neighboring Elymian (indigenous non-Greek) city of Segesta. These conflicts ultimately proved to be the undoing of Silenos as the beleaguered Segestans looked for external help. Silenos narrowly avoided attack by the ill-fated Athenian expedition in 415 BC, but were not so fortunate when the Segestans called in Carthaginian support. The Selinuntines were defeated by a combined Punic and Segestan force in 410 BC, but in the following year a vast Punic army arrived and destroyed Selinos, killing some 16,000 citizens and enslaving 5,000 more. The present tetradrachm was struck at at the zenith of Selinos' wealth and power, when the disasters wrought by Segesta and the Carthaginians still lay decades in the future.
From the Dionysus Collection.
Ex CNG 66 (19 May 2004), lot 126.
Selinos was founded as the westernmost of the Greek colonies on Sicily around 628 BC and named for the large quantities of wild celery (selinon in Greek) that grew in the vicinity. Its location and the ambitions of the city frequently brought it into conflict with the neighboring Elymian (indigenous non-Greek) city of Segesta. These conflicts ultimately proved to be the undoing of Silenos as the beleaguered Segestans looked for external help. Silenos narrowly avoided attack by the ill-fated Athenian expedition in 415 BC, but were not so fortunate when the Segestans called in Carthaginian support. The Selinuntines were defeated by a combined Punic and Segestan force in 410 BC, but in the following year a vast Punic army arrived and destroyed Selinos, killing some 16,000 citizens and enslaving 5,000 more. The present tetradrachm was struck at at the zenith of Selinos' wealth and power, when the disasters wrought by Segesta and the Carthaginians still lay decades in the future.