Sale: CNG 79, Lot: 107. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 17 September 2008.  Sold For $500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SICILY, Syracuse. Deinomenid Tyranny. 485-466 BC. AR Litra (0.78 g, 12h). Struck under Hieron I, circa 470-466 BC. Diademed head of Arethusa right / Octopus. Cf. Boehringer Series XIIIa, 423-30/415-22 (for obv./rev. type). VF, dark toning, light porosity, edge chip.

This coin clearly belongs in Boehringer’s series XIIIa, which comprises two subgroups, one with the ethnic on the obverse, the other with the ethnic on the reverse. Although the obverse of this coin is a little off center, there certainly is no ethnic, which always is found tight against Arethusa’s face. At the same time, there is no ethnic on the reverse, either. Therefore this coin is apparently a hybrid of the two standard series, struck from an obverse die of the second, and a reverse die of the first.