Sale: Triton V, Lot: 238. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 16 January 2002.  Sold For $3000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SICILY, Syracuse . Circa 390 BC. Æ Drachm (22.11 gm). SURA, helmeted head of Athena left, wearing necklace and Corinthian helmet; dolphin downwards behind / Hippocamp left, waves below. SNG ANS -; Calciati II pg. 75, 33; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG Morcom -; Favorito -; Antikenmuseum Basel 492 (this coin); Laffaille -; Virzi -. Good VF, glossy dark green patina, minor smoothing, a few light pits. Extremely rare. Calciati states that only two specimens are known. ($3000)

The beginning of the fourth century BC saw the end of Syracuse’s great prosperity and the continuation of the mighty struggle between the tyrant Dionysius I and the Carthaginians for western Sicily. The production of Syracuse’s magnificent silver coinage ended abruptly and was replaced by several series of splendid bronze coinage of which this coin, according to Calciati vol. II, pg. 75, is a trial or proof of a series rather than a definitive issue.