|
SICILY, Syracuse. Dionysios I. 405-367 BC. AR Dekadrachm (36mm, 42.88 g, 5h). Unsigned dies in the style of Euainetos. Struck circa 405-380/67 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; Σ-ΥΡΑΚ-Ο-Σ-ΙΩΝ behind hair, shell behind neck, four dolphins swimming around. Gallatin dies R.XIV/F.VIIA; Scavino 45 (D13/R25a); HGC 2, 1299; SNG München 1080 (same dies); Pozzi 617 (same dies). Attractively toned, fields smoothed and some tooling on obverse, some light scratches on reverse. Good VF.
Ex Oslo Myntgalleri 28 (6 May 2022), lot 7; Oslo Mynthandel FPL (9 June 1987), no. A9.
The engraver Euainetos seems to have begun his series of signed dekadrachm dies a few years after Kimon; perhaps he began as an apprentice and “graduated” to master status. His dekadrachm design superseded that of Kimon and became a paradigm for coinage throughout the classical world. His Arethousa is less human and more divine than his predecessor’s vision. The wreath of grain ears woven into her hair symbolizes the agricultural bounty of Sicily. His racing chariot is the essence of action, almost photographically frozen in time, with the charging, rearing horses appearing to levitate above the ground line. The design was widely copied on later coinage of Syracuse, as well as by the Carthaginian forces in Sicily.
The final winners of all CNG Feature Auction 127 lots will be determined during the live online sale that will be held on 17-18 September 2024. This lot is in Session One, which will begin 17 September at 9 AM ET.
Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.
We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers. The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and stable previous version of Chrome and Firefox.
|
