Lot 8
Sicily, Messana, c. 412-408 B.C. AR Tetradrachm (17.19 g). The nymph Messana, in long chiton, and holding goad and reins, in mule-drawn biga to the left; above, Nike flies right to crown her; in exergue, two dolphins meeting. Reverse: Hare springs to the left above ear of grain; above, eagle flies left. C. Boehringer, Rekonstrukzion des Schatzfundes von Ognina 1923, SNR 57, 1978, pl. 33, 157 (this coin); Caltabiano, Messana, AMUGS XIII, nos. 622.6 and 17 (this coin); Schefold, Meisterwerke griechischer Kunst, 479 (this coin). Both sides well struck and sharp, on choice metal. Finely toned and lustrous. A superior example of this issue. NGC graded Extremely Fine.
Messana, under the name of Zankle, was one of the oldest Chalcidian colonies established in Sicily. The hare motif on the reverse is thought to commemorate the introduction of this animal to Sicily by Anaxilas of Rhegium around 490 BC, but it more likely appears on the city's coinage as a symbol of Pan, perhaps the most favored deity of the residents. Messana was blessed with a fine harbor, but it was its control of the straits of about three and a half miles wide, that divided Sicily from the toe of Italy, with its important sea traffic, that was the city's true source of wealth.
Estimated Value $12,000 - 14,000.
Ex Hess-Leu 9, April 2, 1958, no. 67; and from the Ognina Hoard of 1923 (IGCH 2120). Incidentally, it should be noted that Caltabiano mistakenly lists this coin twice, as 622.6 and 17, and also gives it, under 622.6, the incorrect provenance of Hess-Leu 1964. Illustrated in Money of the World, coin 15.
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| Realized $21,275 |
