Messana/Rhegion Die Link

167, Lot: 22. Estimate $500. Sold for $908. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BRUTTIUM, Rhegion. Anaxilas, Tyrant. Circa 475-4 BC. AR Tetradrachm (25mm, 16.95 g). Seated man (Anaxilas?) driving biga of mules right, holding reins in both hands; laurel leaf in exergue / Hare springing right. Caltabiano, La Monetazione di Messana D M43/R 60; SNG ANS 625-31; HN Italy 2472. VF, toned, some corrosion and die rust.

From the C. G. Collection. Ex Stack’s (14 April 1993), lot 134.

The tyrant Anaxilas took control of Rhegion around 494 BC. He spent the next 6 years trying to gain control of Zankle, when in 488 he expelled the Samians who had earlier double crossed him. After the expulsion of the Samians, Anaxilas repopulated Zankle with settlers from various areas, including Messenia in southern Greece, his home town, and changed the name to Messana. In 480, Anaxilas replaced the existing coin types at both Messana and Rhegion with a new series struck on the Attic standard: the obverse featured a mule-car and the reverse a hare. The choice of type echoed the Syracusan quadriga design, but was also important for Anaxilas personally since he had won a victory in the mule-car race at the Olympic games. The obverse die of this coin was used to strike tetradrachms of both Messana and Rhegion during Caltabiano’s Series IIB (478-6 BC). Heavily worn, it was re-used in conjunction with a reverse die of Rhegion for Series III (475-4 BC). Caltabiano did not have this die link.