316, Lot: 526. Estimate $100. Sold for $120. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Copying an issue of Sicily, Syracuse. Æ ‘Dekadrachm’ Token (35mm, 24.30 g, 12h). Issued by the Stearns Bicycle Company of Syracuse, New York, after the Greek engraver Kimon. Dated 1898. Wreathed head of Arethusa left, surrounded by swimming dolphins / Charioteer driving galloping quadriga left; above, Nike flying right, crowning charioteer with open wreath; in exergue, ΣTEAPNΣ/ MDCCXCVIII. VF, brown patina.

From “The Great Round World And What Is Going On In It” Vol. 2, No. 11, March 17, 1898:

Stearns bicycles, like the coins of ancient Greece, are works of art and represent the highest possible value. The 23-inch frame "Yellow Fellow" and 21-inch drop frame are just the proper sizes for growing boys and girls. If you write E. C. Stearns & Company, asking them to send you their new illustrated catalogue, and will enclose two 2-cent stamps, they will send you an exact reproduction of the famous ten-drachm piece of Dionysius, the Tyrant of Syracuse. Dionysius went over to Syracuse with his four-horse chariot, called the quadriga, and, much to the surprise of the Greeks, won the coveted laurel wreath at the Olympian games. The Greeks refused Dionysius his trophy, however, and, in his rage, he caused to be struck off in commemoration of his victory the most magnificent coin the world has ever known. The coin was made by the greatest sculptor of Athens, Simon (sic). The coin is about as large as the American silver dollar, and is carved in high relief, on one side showing Dionysius in the quadriga being crowned by winged Victory and on the reverse, Arethusa, the tutelary goddess of the sea, surrounded by her dolphins. Send two 2-cent stamps for this beautiful ten-drachm piece, mentioning "The Great Round World."