Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXIII 24-25 Mar 2022
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Sicily, Syracuse AR Tetradrachm. Time of Agathokles, circa 310-305 BC. Head of Kore to right, wearing wreath of grain ears and single-pendant earring; KOPAΣ behind / Nike standing to right, erecting trophy to right; monogram to lower left, triskeles to right, [A]ΓAΘOKΛE[OΣ] in exergue. Ierardi 103e (O21/R64 - this coin [corr. prov.]); BAR Issue 23; Boston MFA 463 = Warren 406 (same dies); HGC 2, 1536.
NGC graded Ch XF 4/5 - 3/5, scratches (#5769822-001); beautiful old cabinet tone. Rare.
This coin cited in M. Ierardi, 'The Tetradrachms of Agathocles of Syracuse: A Preliminary Study' in AJN 7/8 (1995-6), p. 53.
Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Auction 114, 13 May 2020, lot 73;
Ex Weise Collection, Gemini LLC, Auction I, 11 January 2005, lot 48;
Ex F. Sternberg AG, Auction XII, 18 November 1982, lot 78.
With the usurpation of Agathokles in 317 BC, Syracuse once more monopolised the right of coinage for the whole of Sicily, even more distinctly than in the time of Dionysios. Yet the reign of Agathokles, as noted by Malcolm Bell (Morgantine Studies I, 1981) "was a watershed for the arts in Sicily, just as it was for politics. The change from a conservative late-classical style to the new modes of the early-Hellenistic period came very quickly, within the space of a decade, and it coincided with the replacement of democratic government by the new monarchy. It is clearly perceptible in the coins that... document the full acceptance of early-Hellenistic style."
Depicted often as a cruel and unscrupulous adventurer and tyrant, Agathokles achieved little of lasting historical importance; indeed after his death anarchy erupted both in Syracuse, where a damnatio memoriae was decreed, and in other places that had been under his rule (Diod. Sic. 21. 18). Nonetheless, his patronage of the arts left a legacy of beauty as embodied by a small number of surviving works of art from his reign, and smaller but no less wonderful objects such as this stunning coin.
NGC graded Ch XF 4/5 - 3/5, scratches (#5769822-001); beautiful old cabinet tone. Rare.
This coin cited in M. Ierardi, 'The Tetradrachms of Agathocles of Syracuse: A Preliminary Study' in AJN 7/8 (1995-6), p. 53.
Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Auction 114, 13 May 2020, lot 73;
Ex Weise Collection, Gemini LLC, Auction I, 11 January 2005, lot 48;
Ex F. Sternberg AG, Auction XII, 18 November 1982, lot 78.
With the usurpation of Agathokles in 317 BC, Syracuse once more monopolised the right of coinage for the whole of Sicily, even more distinctly than in the time of Dionysios. Yet the reign of Agathokles, as noted by Malcolm Bell (Morgantine Studies I, 1981) "was a watershed for the arts in Sicily, just as it was for politics. The change from a conservative late-classical style to the new modes of the early-Hellenistic period came very quickly, within the space of a decade, and it coincided with the replacement of democratic government by the new monarchy. It is clearly perceptible in the coins that... document the full acceptance of early-Hellenistic style."
Depicted often as a cruel and unscrupulous adventurer and tyrant, Agathokles achieved little of lasting historical importance; indeed after his death anarchy erupted both in Syracuse, where a damnatio memoriae was decreed, and in other places that had been under his rule (Diod. Sic. 21. 18). Nonetheless, his patronage of the arts left a legacy of beauty as embodied by a small number of surviving works of art from his reign, and smaller but no less wonderful objects such as this stunning coin.