Heritage World Coin Auctions
ANA Signature Sale 3066 17 Aug 2018
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Ancients
SICILY. Catana. Ca. 465-450 BC. AR tetradrachm (26mm, 17.18 gm, 8h). NGC Choice AU 3/5 - 4/5, Fine Style. Man-faced bull (the local river god Amenanos) standing right, kneeling with right foreleg; satyr right above, sea-serpent (ketos) right below dotted ground line / KATANAION (retrograde), Nike walking left, diadem in outstretched right hand, left arm at her side. Randazzo Hoard 62 (this coin). Rizzo pl. 9, 13. Very rare! Strong strike with full details present on the obverse and a noticeable die shift on the reverse. Sparkling surfaces with areas of rainbow toning around the devices.
Ex Triton VIII (11 January 2005), lot 62; 1980 Randazzo, Sicily Hoard (CH VII, 17).
The city of Catana was founded on the east coast of Sicily, at the foot of volcanic Mount Aetna, in the mid-8th century BC by Greek colonists from the nearby city of Naxos. Little is known of its earlier history, but in 476 BC Catana was conquered by the tyrant Hieron I of Syracuse, who ejected the inhabitants and replaced them with Syracusans and new settlers from the Peloponnese. Hieron renamed the city Aetna, but in 461 BC, the new occupants were in turn ejected and the original inhabitants resumed their former home, reinstated the old name, and inaugurated a remarkable series of coins that included some of the most striking and evocative types ever produced in Sicily. This exceedingly rare early Classical type depicts the river god Amenanos in the form of a man-faced bull, pawing at the ground and apparently about to charge. The reverse image depicts a vigorous Nike striding to left, her diaphanous peplos flowing over her athletic form. The mastery of numismatic art would continue until the city's second fall to Syracuse in 404 BC.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 10000-15000 USD
SICILY. Catana. Ca. 465-450 BC. AR tetradrachm (26mm, 17.18 gm, 8h). NGC Choice AU 3/5 - 4/5, Fine Style. Man-faced bull (the local river god Amenanos) standing right, kneeling with right foreleg; satyr right above, sea-serpent (ketos) right below dotted ground line / KATANAION (retrograde), Nike walking left, diadem in outstretched right hand, left arm at her side. Randazzo Hoard 62 (this coin). Rizzo pl. 9, 13. Very rare! Strong strike with full details present on the obverse and a noticeable die shift on the reverse. Sparkling surfaces with areas of rainbow toning around the devices.
Ex Triton VIII (11 January 2005), lot 62; 1980 Randazzo, Sicily Hoard (CH VII, 17).
The city of Catana was founded on the east coast of Sicily, at the foot of volcanic Mount Aetna, in the mid-8th century BC by Greek colonists from the nearby city of Naxos. Little is known of its earlier history, but in 476 BC Catana was conquered by the tyrant Hieron I of Syracuse, who ejected the inhabitants and replaced them with Syracusans and new settlers from the Peloponnese. Hieron renamed the city Aetna, but in 461 BC, the new occupants were in turn ejected and the original inhabitants resumed their former home, reinstated the old name, and inaugurated a remarkable series of coins that included some of the most striking and evocative types ever produced in Sicily. This exceedingly rare early Classical type depicts the river god Amenanos in the form of a man-faced bull, pawing at the ground and apparently about to charge. The reverse image depicts a vigorous Nike striding to left, her diaphanous peplos flowing over her athletic form. The mastery of numismatic art would continue until the city's second fall to Syracuse in 404 BC.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 10000-15000 USD