Watch List notes:

Sicily, Syracuse Unsigned by Kimon. Decadrachm; Sicily, Syracuse Unsigned by Kimon; ca. 407 BC, Decadrachm, 42.35g. Jongkees-14 (only 4 recorded in 1941). Obv: Charioteer driving fast quadriga l., holding kentron in r. hand, reins in l.; above, Nike flying r., crowning charioteer; below heavy exergual line, a military harness, shield, greaves, cuirass, and Attic helmet, all connected by a horizontal spear. Rx: Head of Arethusa l. wearing hairband, earrings and pearl necklace with four dolphins around her, S?R???S?O? above. Seen by Ed Waddell in 1995 when evaluating an American collection put together c. 1980s-1990s which contained this coin. Very close to Egger XLV, 12 November 1913, lot 386. The obverse of this coin is struck with a rusty die, but is better centered than one of the few published examples, in an Egger sale of 1913, which is also struck with a rusty die on the obverse. The head of Arethusa is flawlessly centered, struck in high relief, surrounded by all four dolphins of which none of them has anything off the flan except for the very tip of one dolphin's dorsal fin. This wonderful coin, one of the most famous types of the entire Greek series, represents the fact that Syracuse was originally established on an island, thus the dolphins of the sea surrounding Arethusa. EF

Buy Price: $73500