Second and Finest Known

Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 51. Estimate $10000.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $10000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SICILY, Panormos. Circa 415-405 BC. AR Tetradrachm (17.34 g, 1h). Charioteer, holding kentron in right hand, reins in both, driving quadriga left; above, dolphin left; in exergue, dog advancing left / [PA]N-ORM[...], river god standing facing, head left, holding in right hand a patera over altar to left; before altar, cock standing right; to right, palm tree and ram standing half-left on low dais. Jenkins, Punic 3 (O1/R3) = Numismatica Genevensis 4, lot 39; otherwise unpublished. Good VF, lightly toned, edge split, some striking weakness. Extremely rare, the second, and finest, known.

The reverse of this coin is based on a tetradrachm of the neighboring city of Selinos, struck in the mid-fifth century BC. Certain key details, however, have been altered for this coin: a palm tree has replaced the Selinos civic badge, the parsley leaf, and a ram now stands in place of a bull. The palm tree, a familiar leitmotiv of Carthaginian issues, confirms this coin is of Siculo-Punic manufacture. The presence of the ram may be further evidence of Punic manufacture, since that animal was a symbol of the Egyptian god Ammon, who was regularly included in the Carthaginian pantheon. The remainder of this complex design has no apparent significance in Punic iconography, and may serve only to connect is as a legitimate monetary counterpart to its Greek model.

Founded by the Phoenicians in the eighth century BC, Panormos was established along the northern coast of Sicily as a trading post with the indigenous Sicani of the region. The people of Panormos, although active traders like the other Phoenician settlers in Sicily, felt little need for striking their own coinage; instead, they relied upon the regional Greek coinages for their transactions. By the late fifth century, however, as Carthage and its Punic allies were expanding control of the western Mediterranean, it became necessary to begin striking coins in order the pay the mercenaries used to assert Punic power. As a result, cities like Panormos began striking coins which could be integrated into the existing monetary system, and which derived their types for the most part from the Greek city-states in Sicily.