From the Hunt Collection

Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 45. Estimate $10000.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $10000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SICILY, Motya. Circa 405-397 BC. AR Tetradrachm (17.47 g, 2h). Head of Arethusa left, in the style of Kimon, wearing triple-pendant earring and necklace; three dolphins around / Crab within circular incuse. Jenkins, Punic 47 (O6/R9); SNG ANS 501 (same obv. die); SNG Lloyd 1138 (same obv. die); Rizzo pl. LXV, 9; SNG Copenhagen 481 (same obv. die); Jameson 667 (same dies). Good VF, toned, light scratch at top of obverse. Very rare.

Ex Triton XI (8 January 2008), lot 49; Nelson Bunker Hunt Collection (Sotheby’s, 19 June 1991), lot 78.

In the final decade of the 5th century BC the Carthaginians launched a series of invasions of Sicily, conquering much of the western half of the island and bringing devastation to many formerly flourishing Greek communities. The Punic presence lasted for a century and a half, until Rome's victory in the First Punic War obliged them to withdraw. During their time of occupation, the Carthaginians struck an extensive coinage in Sicily for the purpose of financing their military operations and the maintenance of garrisons. The obverse and reverse types of the series are mostly influenced by Sicilian prototypes, particularly those of Syracuse, except for the later series with the head of Herakles on the obverse which was obviously influenced by the well-recognized coinage of Alexander the Great. While most of these series are given to a primary Carthaginian mint at Entella, a few of the series were struck at Motya and Panormos, which are thought to have been secondary or campaign mints that operated for a short duration.