Classic Greece. Robert Ready British Museum electrotype. Sicily. Syracuse. 405-400 B.C. Silver tetradrachm copy. 30 mm. (The B.M. piece weighs 17.26 grams). Head of Arethusa facing slightly left, dolphins darting in and out of her locks; Κιμων on her diadem / A quadriga left, horses prancing; Nike, just landing on their heads, is about to crown the charioteer. Head plate 17, 68. One of the most famous and beautiful classical types in all of ancient Greek coinage. Silver gilt.

An in-hand experience of the finest of Greek coinage:
In the late 1850's the British Museum hired the seal-maker, Robert Ready, to produce copies of some of the finest coins in the British Museum collection. With an electrotyping technique they had perfected Ready and his sons produced exact replicas of the actual museum coins. They were produced in two parts, an obverse and a reverse. We acquired a select group of some of the most beautiful and important pieces they produced. All of these were direct copper casts of the actual coins and all but lots 36 and 38 have been gilt to illustrate the color of the actual coin, silver or gold.
All electrotypes offered here are in two separate halves.