SICILY. Selinos. Circa 540-515 BC. Didrachm (Silver, 21.5 mm, 8.96 g). Wild parsley leaf. Rev. Incuse square divided diagonally into ten raised and lowered triangularly-shaped sections. Arnold-Biucchi, Archaic Selinus, 3 var. Selinus Hoard 23 ( same dies ). SNG ANS 670 var. Very attractive, well-struck with minimal flatness and lightly toned. A few minor marks, otherwise, good extremely fine.

From the collection of M. Price, Stack's 3 December 1996, 14.

The city of Selinos used a leaf of wild parsley, selinon in Greek, as its badge - a typical example of the way Greek states used what are known as punning types to identify themselves on their coinages. Of course, since the city's name was effectively Parsley Town, what better type could there be to have on her coinage? As seen on the following lot, in the 5th century BC the selinon leaf changes from a type to a symbol. Another example of a punning type is the seal, phoke, that constantly appears, usually as a symbol or adjunct type, as on the coinage of Phokaia.