Triton XXII, Lot: 139. Estimate $500. Sold for $550. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SICILY, Syracuse. Hieron I. 478-466 BC. AR Obol (9.5mm, 0.60 g). Local imitation. Diademed head of Arethousa right, wearing single-pendant earring and pearl necklace / Wheel with four spokes. Boehringer B28; cf. HGC 2, 1371; cf. SNG ANS 116; cf. SNG Lloyd 1301–2; cf. Rizzo pl. XXV, 8. Superb EF, dark find patina. Excellent metal.

From the Alan J. Harlan Collection. Ex Waddell inventory 51768; Numismatica Ars Classica 48 (21 October 2008), lot 48.

With the exception of a small group of imitative tetradrachms, which he places at Panormos, Boehringer suggests (pp. 68–72) that the “barbarous imitations” in his corpus were struck at the various cities of the Sikels, such as Henna or Herbessos. However, his assignment of issues to this category appears to have been based strictly on style, and while some issues clearly are foreign in style, others are only marginally different, such that they may, in fact, be official issues of Syracuse. This is particularly evident among the various obols and litrai that Boehringer considered imitations, and, in this cataloger’s opinion, the present piece is likely not imitative.