Ex Nanteuil, Picard, and Burel Collections

CNG 100, Lot: 1288. Estimate $50000. Sold for $42500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SICILY, Syracuse. Dionysios I. 405-367 BC. AR Dekadrachm (35mm, 42.40 g, 1h). Reverse die signed by Euainetos. Struck circa 405-390 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, [military harness], shield, greaves, cuirass, and crested Attic helmet, all connected by a horizontal spear; [AΘΛA below] / Head of Arethousa left, wearing wreath of grain ears, triple-pendant earring, and pearl necklace; ΣΥ-ΡΑΚ-Ο-ΣΙ-ΩΝ above (bottom of letters visible), four dolphins swimming around, and EY-A[IN]E along lower edge (top of letters visible). Gallatin dies R.VIII/C.XV, 3 = Nanteuil 360 (this coin); Rizzo pl. LIV, 6–7; SNG ANS 369; SNG Lloyd 1412; Dewing 896–7; BMC 175 (same dies); SNG München 1078 (same dies). Good VF, attractive gray toning with slight iridescence, only a hint of the usual die rust, faint marks under tone in field on obverse.

From the Friend of a Scholar Collection. Ex Leu 38 (13 May 1986), lot 40; Henri de Nanteuil Collection (1925), 360; G. Picard Collection (Sambon, 14 March 1923), lot 344; Gustave Burel Collection (Feuardent, 11 June 1913), lot 95.

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.