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

$13,500.00

FPL V, 8 (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 possible 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 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, “lt. marks,” a coin with a charming reverse where one dolphin appears to jump above another that emerges from behind Arethusa’s neck. Although Tudeer and Fischer-Bossert regard this as an unsigned issue, there seems to be a signature on the upper part of the sphendone.