Sicily, Syracuse. Circa 480-475 BC. Tetradrachm

Sicily, Syracuse. Circa 480-475 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 26 mm, 16.97 g). Charioteer, holding kentron and reins, driving slow quadriga right; above, Nike flying right, crowning the horses. Rev. ΣV-RAK-O-Σ-ION Pearl-diademed head of Arethusa right, wearing necklace; around, four dolphins. Boehringer 62; Boston MFA 337 these dies; SNG ANS 15 these dies. Old cabinet tone. Very fine. Ex Münzen und Medaillen Fixed Price List 100, 1951, 7; and CGB 47, 20 July 2011, 29. An appealing early classical tetradrachm from Syracuse, struck in the years shortly after the city’s victory over the Carthaginians at Himera in 480 BC. The obverse retains the standard Syracusan quadriga type, but in a comparatively restrained early style: the horses advance at a measured pace, while Nike descends to crown them, transforming the chariot scene into an emblem of civic and agonistic victory. The reverse shows Arethusa in the traditional archaizing manner, her head encircled by dolphins, the defining badge of Syracusan silver coinage. This issue belongs to Boehringer’s early post-Himera series and predates the more ambitious high classical Arethusa heads of the later fifth century. The die links to the Boston and ANS specimens place the coin within a well-documented and important phase of Syracusan tetradrachm production. Though only very fine, the piece is enhanced by its old cabinet tone and unusually long provenance, reaching back to the M&M 1951 fixed price list, giving it particular collector interest beyond condition alone.