SICILY. Syracuse. Dionysios I, 405-367 BC. Hemiobol (Silver, 7.5 mm, 0.29 g), was this coin struck in Syracuse?, circa 400 or, c. 450-400 BC. Octopus. Rev. Star of sixteen rays. Unpublished, but see ACR 24, 2016, 222 and Roma e68, 2020, 246 ( same obverse die and probably the same reverse die as well ). Extremely rare, one of three known examples. Clear and well-struck. Minor roughness on the obverse, otherwise, about extremely fine.

From the "Collection sans Pareille" of Ancient Greek Fractions, acquired from Münzen und Medaillen in Basel prior to 2000.

The original M&M cataloguer dated this coin to c. 450-400 BC and assigned it to an uncertain mint in Sicily; the piece in Bertolami, in 2016, was dated to the late 5th-4th century and also ascribed to an uncertain Sicilian mint; as for the piece in Roma, in 2020, that was confidently ascribed to Syracuse and dated to the time of Dionysios I on the basis of what were termed, "the unambiguously Dionysid motifs." But why either the octopus or the star should be unambiguously Dionysid is unclear, at least to us. In any case, the fact that the first two tentacles of this octopus seem not to be entwined makes one wonder whether this issue is slightly earlier than 405, but the star on the reverse looks very un-fifth century!