‡ Sicily, Kamarina, tetradrachm, c. 410 BC, fast quadriga right driven by Athena wearing crested helmet; above, Nike flying left to crown her with wreath; in ex., barley grain, rev., ΚΑΜΑΡΙΝΑΙ-ΟΝ, head of young Herakles wearing lion-skin headdress left; to left, olive leaf with fruit, 17.18g, die axis 7.00 (Westermark & Jenkins 146, 5, this piece; Rizzo pl. V, 13; Kunstfreund 84; Jenkins AGC 427-428; Kraay-Hirmer 149, all from the same dies), good very fine Provenance: Münzen und Medaillen 32, 20 October 1966, lot 36; Bank Leu 50, 25 April 1990, lot 49; European Connoisseur collection (formed before 2002). Note: For a city with such a turbulent history and short-lived periods of coinage, Kamarina produced an outsized share of interesting and artistically sophisticated works, some, as here, among the finest ever produced in Sicily. Although unsigned, ‘it is virtually certain that he [Exakestidas] created the excellent head of Herakles...The youthful hero with his lionskin head-dress gives an ideal opportunity for the contrast of the smoothly modelled face, and a slight suggestion of side whiskers, with the shaggy lion’s mane knotted round its throat. The corresponding chariot–whether or not by the same hand–is likewise remarkable.’ (Jenkins, 1972, pp. 169-170).

Estimate: GBP 7000-10000