20011

GREEK COINS - SICILY - Syracuse - RARE AR Tetradrachm

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:5,000.00 USD Estimated At:5,000.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
GREEK COINS - SICILY - Syracuse - RARE AR Tetradrachm
AR Tetradrachm, 466-405 BC (16.43 g). Charioteer driving quadriga to right, Nike flying right above, crowning his horses, leaf in exergue / SURAKOSION, head of Arethusa right, hair tied together in a sakkos, four dolphins around. Franke-Hirmer 94; Boehringer 820; cf. Rizzo, pl. XL, 15 and pl. XL,16 which shows an enlargement of a specimen struck from the same reverse die. A superbly balanced and strikingly classical die, this particular rendering has been seen by Rizzo in his Saggi Preliminari, p. 41 ff., fig. 26 ff. as a close numismatic parallel to the work on the Parthenon in Athens. He rightly points out the similarity between the style of this particular obverse die and the head of Artemis located on the Parthenon`s east frieze (slab E iv.40). A rare and art historically important coin.

VF, light toning.