★ Published in 1922 ★

SICILY, Syracuse. Dionysios I. 405-367 BC. AV 100 Litrai – Double Dekadrachm (14.5mm, 5.78 g, 3h). Obverse die signed by Kimon. Struck circa 400-370 BC. Head of Arethousa left, hair in sakkos adorned with two stars, wearing triple-pendant earring and pearl necklace; ΣYPAKOΣION to left, barley grain [and KI] behind neck / Herakles kneeling right, strangling the Nemean Lion; rocks below. Bérend Group I, 1.3 (D1/R1) = G. de Ciccio, Gli aurei siracusani di Cimone ed Eveneto (Naples, 1922), pl. I, 2 ( this coin ); HGC 2, 1275; SNG ANS 319 (same dies); Basel 475 (same dies); Gulbenkian 320–1 (same dies); Jameson 1917 (same obv. die); Rizzo pl. L, 9 (same dies). Minor die rust. EF. Of superb classical style. Very rare.

From the Jonathan P. Rosen Collection. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica 29 (11 May 2005), lot 125; Marchese Roberto Ginoro-Venturi Collection (but not in the 1938 Santamaria sale of his collection).