A Very Important Series of Coins of Syracuse mostly from a Distinguished European Collector
Tetradrachm circa 510-500, AR 17.28 g. ΣΥΡΑΚΟ / ΣΙΩΝ Slow quadriga driven r. by charioteer, wearing long chiton and holding reins in each hand. Rev. Head of the nymph Arethusa l., hair curving back from forehead with dotted parallel lines and falling over neck, positioned in a circle sunk at the centre of a swastika developed from the quartering of an incuse square. Rizzo pl. XXXIV, 4. SNG ANS 2 (this obverse die). SNG München 918 (this obverse die). Dewing 686. AMB 421 (this obverse die). SNG Copenhagen 614. Boehringer 10. Rare. A pleasant specimen of this desirable issue, struck on a broad flan, lovely old cabinet tone and about extremely fine From a private European collection and privately purchased in the late 80s. Sicilian coinage first began in the final decades of the sixth century, probably around 530/25 B.C. It made its first appearance at four mints: the Chalcidian colonies of Zancle (later named Messana), Himera, Naxos, and also at the city of Selinus, a colony of Megara Hyblaea. Despite the common Chalcidian heritage of three of these cities, the coinage of each was strikingly different from the others. The standards in use at Zancle, Himera, and Naxos were based on a third of the Chalcidian stater, while the Selinunte didrachm was of Attic-Euboic weight; the reverses of both Himera and Selinus employed incuse squares divided into alternately raised and sunken triangles, while Zancle used a schematised pattern with a cockle shell in the centre and Naxos used a two-type design. Thus, when Syracuse followed its Sicilian neighbours and began striking its own coinage in c. 510 B.C., it is not surprising that they chose to follow no one, decidedly taking their own unique path. The first coins minted at Syracuse were tetradrachms, struck on the Attic standard of approximately 17.20 g. The obverse type was of purely Syracusan origin, and depicted a male charioteer driving a quadriga with the city ethnic above. The style is severe with sharp relief planes and recall the style from certain early Macedonian mints (indeed, as a rule, hoards of Sicilian coins are not found outside Sicily, yet hoards containing coins from Acanthus in Macedon have been found at Syracuse). This was the period before the tyrants, a time when Syracuse was ruled by an oligarchy of wealthy citizens. These ruling aristocrats would have enjoyed equestrian pursuits, especially the great chariot contests at Delphi and Olympia, and it is therefore thought that the chariot design reflects these interests. The reverse of the very first tetradrachm issue is a simple four-part incuse square design, the sections divided by thin crossing lines, and was copied from the same Acanthian (and perhaps other Macedonian) tetradrachms that served as inspiration for the obverse. Soon after this very rare first issue, the reverse was modified to include a small central medallion containing the head of Arethusa, a local fountain goddess, facing to the left, her strong and logical archaic features of characteristically Dorian style. The superimposition of a medallion on the reverse had already occurred at Athens, the coins of which apparently served as inspiration for this design element appearing at Syracuse.