Lot 3146

Description

Sicily, Syracuse, (c.485-478 B.C. revised date 467-461), silver tetradrachm, (17.070 grams), obv. fast walking quadriga driven to right by bearded male charioteer, Nike flying right crowning horses, rev. **SUPAKO SIO N* around to right, head of Artemis-Arethusa to right, hair slightly waved and turned up behind under diadem of beads, four dolphins around, (cf.S.914, Boehringer 247 variant, mule of dies (obverse 111/reverse 174 dies), Randazzo -, SNG ANS -). Tight flan, unpublished die combination, nearly very fine and very rare.

Boehringer does not note any specimens from these dies. The lower dating of this tetradrachm follows D. Knoepfler (SNR 72 [1993] pp.12-27), who argued that four of the Boehringer's series were minted concurrently, using several anvils, until 461 or a little later, when production decreased dramatically and only one anvil was required.