Sicily, Syracuse

12,500.00

1 in stock

SKU: 1632 Category: Tags: , , , , , , ,

Description

Circa 405, AR tetradrachm, 17.29 gr., 26 mm. In the style of Eukleidas.

Obv: charioteer, holding kentron and reins, driving fast quadriga to the left.; above: Nike flying to the right, crowning him; in exergue: dolphin to the left.

Rev: [ΣY]PAKOΣIΩИ; head of Arethusa to the left, hair in bands, wearing double-loop earring and plain necklace with frontal pendant; around: four dolphins.

Ref: Rizzo pl. XLVIIII, 15; SNG Lloyd 1405 (these dies); SNG Fitzwilliam 1253 (these dies); Garrett II,

137 (these dies); Tudeer 96; Coins, Artists and Tyrants 96.

Delicate toning. Nearly Extremely Fine.

Ex Tradart 4 (Geneva, 1994), lot 23. From the European Connaisseur collection before 2002.

This coin is known as “la Scapigliata” (the lady with the disheveled hair). The artist wanted to portray the nymph Arethusa as she was swimming under water. The design was first made by the master-engraver Eukleidas. The period in Syracuse just after the defeat of the Athenians laying siege before their city is better known as the “Time of the signing artists”. Artists were so proud of their work, and rightly so, that they signed the dies with which the coins were struck. Their achievements indeed seemed from another world as they experimented with depth and movement on a flat surface. They were able to visualize and produce designs nobody had ever seen before. This was the start of what we call the Classical period.