Sale: Nomos 1, Lot: 15. Estimate CHF8500.  Closing Date: Tuesday, 5 May 2009.  Sold For CHF7500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SICILY, Akragas. Circa 510-500 BC. Didrachm (Silver, 8.88 g 8). ΑΚRΑCΑΝΤΟΣ Eagle with closed wings standing left Rev. Crab. Basel 252. Jenkins, Gela pl. 37, 2. SNG ANS 907 var. SNG Copenhagen 23. Nicely toned and with a bold and very sharply struck eagle. An unusually fine example. Reverse slightly weakly struck, otherwise, good extremely fine.

From the Spina collection.

Until the sack of the city by the Carthaginians in 406, Akragas, founded c. 582-580 by colonists from Gela, was one of the most prosperous Greek cities of Sicily, as exemplified by the remains of its seven major temples that can be seen today (now, alas, it is also known as a center for the Mafia). The city’s badges were the eagle, an inhabitant of the crags nearby, and the crab, a denizen of the waters below. The stylistic progression from the early representations, as seen on this late Archaic piece, to those of the early and high Classical periods is instructive and attractive.