★ A very rare Didrachm from the small Punic island-city of Motya, pedigreed to 1933 ★

SICILY. Motya. Circa 410-405 BC. Didrachm (Silver, 23 mm, 8.58 g, 8 h). The river-god Krimisos, in the form of a hunting dog, standing right; below, plant. Rev. [MOTYAION] Head of a nymph to right, with her hair rolled up; all within shallow circular incuse. BMC 4 ( same dies ). HGC 2, 927. Hurter, Segesta, pl. 18, 7 ( same dies ). Jenkins, Punic I, 22.1 ( this coin, O11/R13). Very rare and with an impressive pedigree. Somewhat porous and some areas of horn silver and with faint cleaning scratches on the obverse, otherwise, good very fine.

From the collection of Dr. med. Cora Flinsch (1920-2022), ex Leu 77, 11-12 May 2000, 93 and from the collection of William Carr, Ars Classica XVI, 3 July 1933, 583 (acquired by L. Forrer for 40 CHF). Motya (modern-day Mozia) is a small island located in the Lo Stagnone Lagoon, north of Marsala, the ancient city of Lilybaion. Early on, a flourishing Punic settlement developed on the island, reaching its peak in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. The city was connected to the mainland by a causeway, the path of which is still clearly visible on satellite images off the island’s northern coast. In 397 BC, the city was destroyed by Dionysios I of Syracuse, and the surviving population relocated to the nearby, better-fortified Lilybaion. Motya holds particular archaeological significance because it was never overbuilt, allowing for the study of a Carthaginian city in its original layout. The coinage of the settlement was heavily influenced by that of other Sicilian cities, such as Akragas, Himera, Syracuse, and, as seen in the piece we have here, Segesta. Since some coins from Motya share obverse die matches with pieces from Segesta, it is possible that the coins were not minted on the small island itself, but rather on the nearby mainland - either in the indigenous Elymian city of Segesta or, as Jenkins suggests, in the Punic city of Panormos