Ex Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Frank, and Bartlett Collections

Triton XIX, Lot: 58. Estimate $50000. Sold for $37500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SICILY, Syracuse. Dionysios I. 405-367 BC. AR Dekadrachm (36mm, 42.55 g, 5h). 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-ΡΑ-Κ-Ο-ΣΙΩΝ above], four dolphins swimming around, and [E]Y-A[INE] along lower edge. Gallatin dies R.VI/C.XIV, 3 = Boston MFA 424 (this coin); HGC 2, 1299; SNG ANS 369 (same dies); Athena Fund I 13 (same obv. die); Dewing 893–5 (same dies); de Luynes 1249 (same rev. die); Warren 363 (same dies). EF, attractively toned, usual die rust on obverse, a few minor marks. Well centered.

Ex Nomos FPL (with Classical Numismatic Group, Winter-Spring 2009), no. 20; Arthur J. Frank Collection; Hess-Leu 24 (16 April 1964), lot 82; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, no. 424 (deaccessioned per vote of Committee of the Museum, 8 May 1963 [cf. Boston MFA Supp. p. 76]); Francis Bartlett Collection (assembled by Edward P. Warren).

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 Demareteion issue 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.