One of the Classical Masterpieces

Sale: CNG 79, Lot: 57. Estimate $20000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 17 September 2008.  Sold For $15600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SICILY, Akragas. Circa 409-406 BC. AR Tetradrachm (17.25 g, 8h). Charioteer driving fast quadriga right; above, Nike flying left, crowning charioteer; crab in exergue / Two eagles standing right on dead hare lying on rock, one eagle raising its head, the other tearing at hare with beak and raising wings. Seltman, Engravers 6 (dies E/ζ); SNG ANS -; Rizzo pl. II, 1; SNG Lloyd 818 = Pozzi 388; BMC 57; Dewing 561; Jameson 1889; Ward 139; de Luynes 859 (all from the same dies). Good VF, attractive light gray toning with golden hues around the devices. Very rare.

From Akragas' first coinage in the late sixth century BC, two symbols predominated on its coins: the eagle and the crab, and the finest master engravers were recruited to create artistic images. In the last quarter of the fifth century BC these traditional types were transformed. The static eagle is now depicted tearing up a dead hare or other victim, and is usually accompanied by its mate. This design may have been inspired by the omen presented to Agamemnon and Menelaus in Aeschylos' Agamemnon, where two eagles, representing the two kings, devoured a pregnant hare, an allusion to the city of Troy. The Carthaginian destruction of the city in 406 BC cut short this brilliant phase of coinage.