SYRACUSE SILVER TETRADRACHM – ARETHUSA HEAD ISSUE IN STYLES OF WITH PHRYGILLOS AND EUARCHIDAS EX 1985 SKA SALE AND PUBLISHED IN FISCHER-BOSSERT – CHOICE VF FINE STYLE NGC GRADED GREEK SICILY COIN (Inv. 18874)

$12,500.00

18874. SICILY. SYRACUSE. Ca. 405–367 BC.
Silver Tetradrachm, 17.29 g, 24 mm. Issue of ca. 405–400 BC.
Obv. Charioteer driving quadriga left, Nike flying above right, crowning him, ivy leaf below horses, grain stalk left in exergue. Rev. [ΣΥΡ]ΑΚΟΣ[ΙΟΝ], diademed head of Arethusa left with pseudo signature on sphendone, wearing saccos decorated with stellar pattern, a pair of dolphins swimming downward in left field, another pair, playfully jumping one above the other, in right field.
Fischer–Bossert, Coins, Artists, and Tyrants, 83e (O30/R56, this coin listed) = Tudeer 83; HGC 2, 1342; SNG ANS 291 (inv. 1944.100.55795, same dies).
Ex Vilmar Numismatics FPL V (Summer/Fall 2023), no. 8 = CNG 123, 5/23/2023, lot 31 = CNG 7, 5/4/1989, lot 16 = Schweizerische Kreditanstalt Bern Auction 3, 4/19/1985, lot 126.
NGC graded CHOICE VF, Strike 5/5, Surface 4/5, FINE STYLE, “light marks,” Fischer-Bossert publication noted on label, a coin with a charming reverse where one dolphin appears to jump above another that emerges from behind Arethusa’s neck.

Although this piece was struck from unsigned dies made by an unknown engraver, the reverse depiction of Arethusa wearing a sphendone clearly emulates the type signed by Phrygillos. The details of the stitching on the ampyx at Arethusa’s forehead may perhaps serve to mimic the engraver’s signature that appears in the same location on Phrygillos’ dies. At the same time, the positioning of the horses’ heads and Nike on the reverse type suggest that the artist also took the dies signed by Euarchidas—which are normally paired with Phrygillos’ reverse dies—as his model.