Very Rare Gold Tetrobol

Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 70. Estimate $7500.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $7500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SICILY, Syracuse. Agathokles. 317-289 BC. AV Tetrobol – Dekadrachm (2.83 g, 12h). Struck circa 305-289 BC. Head of Apollo left, wearing laurel wreath / Charioteer, holding kentron in right hand, reins in left, driving galloping biga right; triskeles below horses, monogram in exergue. Bérend, l’or pl. 9, 11; BAR Issue 30; SNG ANS 706 var. (Φ in exergue); SNG Lloyd 1474 var. (T in exergue); Jameson 859 var. (Φ in exergue); Gulbenkian 337. EF. Very rare.

Ex James A. Ferrendelli Collection (Triton VII, 13 January 2004), lot 110.

There can be little doubt that the prototype for Agathokles’ issue of gold dekadrachms is the gold stater introduced by the Macedonian king Philip II and continued by his successors for at least two decades after his death, down to approximately the time when Agathokles came to power in Syracuse. Agathokles likely chose Philip’s design because it was familiar to Greek mercenaries, which he often had cause to recruit.