Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 35. Estimate $1500.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $1300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SICILY, Kamarina(?). Circa 415-410 BC. AR Hemilitron (0.32 g, 3h). Facing horned head of river god / Aphlaston; six pellets and Σ-I-K-A around. D. Salzmann, “AKIΣ – Flussgott Statt Stempelschneider” in SM 158 (May 1990), p. 36; Manganaro pl. 24, 36A = Manganaro, mikrà pl. V, 78; C. Boehringer, “Der sizilische Stempelschneider SIKA-” in QT XIV (1985), pl. 1, 1; Numismatica Ars Classica 33, lot 63 (all from the same rev. die). Good VF, toned. Extremely rare.

The attribution of this piece to Kamarina is not certain. G. Manganaro first published this type in his 1984 article in JNG, where he attributed it to the Sichaninoi or Ichaninoi, who assisted Syracuse in defeating the Athenian fleet. C. Boehringer, in his 1958 QT article, assigned these to Kamarina, based on stylistic similarities in the obverse type with various tetradrachms issued by the city in the late 5th century BC (see Westermark & Jenkins 162-3. He also views the inscription not as a city ethnic, but a signature of an engraver. D. Salzmann, in SM 158, takes the view that the inscription is an ethnic, but that it should be read as AKIΣ, which was the name of a river in eastern Sicily near Mt. Etna. He places the issue at an uncertain mint near this river. While Manganaro's reasoning is a bit cumbersome, both Boehringer and Salzmann have persuasive arguments for their attributions. Nevertheless, this issue does not fit into any of the known city issues in the area of the Akis River, while, in contrast, the stylistic similarities noted by Boehringer are quite striking.