Dekadrachms of Syracuse
Signed by Kimon

Triton XVI, Lot: 230. Estimate $30000. Sold for $32500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SICILY, Syracuse. Dionysios I. 405-367 BC. AR Dekadrachm (33mm, 42.51 g, 12h). Reverse die signed by Kimon. Struck circa 404-400 BC. Charioteer, holding kentron in extended right hand and reins in left, driving fast quadriga left; above, Nike flying right, crowning charioteer with wreath held in her extended hands; below heavy exergual line, a military harness, shield, greaves, cuirass, and Attic helmet, all connected by a horizontal spear; [AΘΛA below] / Head of Arethusa left, wearing single-pendant earring and necklace, hair restrained in an open-weave sakkos and ampyx, KI (Kimon’s signature) on ampyx; ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙ-ΩΝ behind hair, four swimming dolphins before and below. Jongkees 6 (dies A/ζ); Rizzo pl. L, 5 (same rev. die); SNG ANS 357 (same dies); SNG Lloyd 1410 (same rev. die); Dewing 870 (same dies); Boston MFA 433 = Warren 356 (same dies); Kraay & Hirmer 121 (same dies). Good VF, toned, usual obverse die rust. The reverse finely centered and struck. A masterpiece of the die engraver’s art.

Ex Classical Numismatic Group 82 (16 September 2009), lot 305; Gorny & Mosch 151 (9 October 2006), lot 90; Münzen und Medaillen AG 81 (18 September 1995), lot 39; Münzen und Medaillen AG XIII (17 June 1954), lot 1049.

Dionysios assumed power in 405 BC and immediately set out to make Syracuse the greatest and best fortified city in all of Greece. He was defending against the renewed imperialistic expansion of Carthage. Three times he defeated the Carthaginians, bringing further prestige and wealth to Syracuse. During his reign, the Syracuse navy became the most powerful in the Mediterranean, allowing Syracuse to expand her territorial control over much of southern Italy.

Dionysios reintroduced the large and ostentatious silver dekadrachms, a denomination that had not been used in Syracuse since the issue of the Demareteion decades earlier. Dionysios entrusted two of the greatest local numismatic artists, Kimon and Euainetos, to design these impressive pieces. The regard for these coins in modern times is reflected by the fact that they are considered a must for any first rank collection of Greek coins.