The New York Sale
Auction 30 9 January 2013
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ANCIENT COINS. GREEK. Sicily, Syracuse (end of the Deinomenid Tyranny and beginning of the Second Democracy, c.466-465 B.C.), Silver Tetradrachm, 17.00g, 10h. By the Demareteion Master. Charioteer, wearing a long chiton and holding a kentron and the reins, driving a slow quadriga to right, Nike flies above to right to crown the horses, a lion springing to right in the exergue. Rev. ΣY-RAK-OΣI-ON, head of Arethusa facing to right, wearing an olive-wreath, a pendant earring and a necklace, a linear circle and four dolphins swimming clockwise around (Boehringer 380 (V195/R269); Rizzo, pl. XXXV, 4 (this reverse die); SNG ANS 121 (these dies)). A good example of this famous coin, remarkable for its outstanding style, light iridescent cabinet tone, about very fine. Very rare.
Ex Bank Leu AG, Auction 42, Zurich, 12 May 1987, lot 114
The instantly recognizable Demareteion series ranks among the most famous and beautiful of all the archaic and classical coinage of Syracuse. This dies are clearly the work of a master engraver, whose exceptional ability can also be witnessed through those which he created for Leontinoi. The Demareteion coins have a very distinctive and powerful style, quite unlike anything else seen on the coinage of Syracuse. The eye is heavy-lidded and the lips sit rather pronounced above noticeably pointed chin. In the hair, an olive-wreath majestically crowns Arethusa, and a lock of hair curls downwards behind her ear.
The name for this important series of coins is taken from queen Demarete, the wife of the Syracusan tyrant Gelon. Following the victory of Gelon and his father-in-law, Theron, tyrant of Akragas, over the Carthaginians at the battle of Himera in 480 B.C., Demarete intervened in negotiations to secure favourable peace terms for the defeated invaders. As a mark of their gratitude, they presented Demarete with one hundred talents of gold, from the proceeds of which were struck the 'Demareteion' series.
Estimate: $12,500
Ex Bank Leu AG, Auction 42, Zurich, 12 May 1987, lot 114
The instantly recognizable Demareteion series ranks among the most famous and beautiful of all the archaic and classical coinage of Syracuse. This dies are clearly the work of a master engraver, whose exceptional ability can also be witnessed through those which he created for Leontinoi. The Demareteion coins have a very distinctive and powerful style, quite unlike anything else seen on the coinage of Syracuse. The eye is heavy-lidded and the lips sit rather pronounced above noticeably pointed chin. In the hair, an olive-wreath majestically crowns Arethusa, and a lock of hair curls downwards behind her ear.
The name for this important series of coins is taken from queen Demarete, the wife of the Syracusan tyrant Gelon. Following the victory of Gelon and his father-in-law, Theron, tyrant of Akragas, over the Carthaginians at the battle of Himera in 480 B.C., Demarete intervened in negotiations to secure favourable peace terms for the defeated invaders. As a mark of their gratitude, they presented Demarete with one hundred talents of gold, from the proceeds of which were struck the 'Demareteion' series.
Estimate: $12,500