Lot 4200

Description

Sicily, Syracuse, (c. 485-478 B.C. revised date 467-461), silver tetradrachm, (16.254 grams), obv. fast walking quadriga driven to right by bearded male charioteer, Nike flying right crowning horses, rev. **SU* RAK O**SI O N around to right, some letters inverted, head of Artemis-Arethusa to right, hair slightly waved and hanging below neck under diadem of beads, four dolphins around, (cf.S.914, Boehringer 306 same dies (obverse 147/reverse 212 dies), BMC 26 [same dies], SNG Munich 967 [same dies]). Lightly toned, nearly very fine and rare.

Ex Astarte Sale XI, December 12-13, 2002, (lot 256). Boehringer notes only two 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.