Ancients: SICULO-PUNIC. Sicily. Entella. Ca. 345-315 BC. AR tetradrachm (25mm, 17.02 gm, 9h). NGC AU★ 5/5 - 4/5, Fine Style....

Click the image to load the highest resolution version.

Sold on Jan 9, 2023 for:

$31,200.00 Bid Source: HA.com/Live bidder

Get one of these:

Share this lot

Track Item Printable Auction Results

Sell One of These

Description

Auction Info

Guides & Info

Description

Fine Style Prancing Horse

SICULO-PUNIC. Sicily. Entella. Ca. 345-315 BC. AR tetradrachm (25mm, 17.02 gm, 9h). NGC AU★ 5/5 - 4/5, Fine Style. Head of Arethusa left, hair wreathed with grain, wearing triple pendant earring and beaded necklace; four dolphins swimming around, beaded border / Horse prancing left, right foreleg raised; palm tree with two clusters of dates in background, all on thick exergual line. Jenkins, Punic 141. Gulbenkian 365. HGC 2, 283. Struck from magnificent style dies, expertly centered on satiny flan with light toning. A simply incredible coin in hand.

The location of the main Carthaginian mint in Sicily identified by Punic inscription as "The Camp" has long been a matter of conjecture and dispute. Recent research, adopted by Oliver Hoover in his Handbook of Coins of Sicily (CNG 2012), suggests the "Camp" mint to have been Entella, a fortress-like city located in central-west Sicily. Founded by the Trojans in the 500s BC, Entella was conquered by a group of Campanian mercenaries in about 410 BC who quickly sold their services to the Carthaginians (alternatively, the Campanians might have been employed by Carthage before they took the city). The city remained a Punic stronghold through most of the fourth century, although the Syracusan tyrant Timoleon briefly drove them out circa 342 BC (a peace treaty dividing Sicily into Greek and Carthaginian spheres of interest in 338 BC returned Entella to Punic control). The Siculo-Punic coinage of Entella seems to have been intended mainly to pay mercenary soldiers who were used to being paid in Greek coin, as the silver tetradrachms adhere closely to the Attic weight standard. Designs were usually based on the ubiquitous issues of Syracuse (obverse), but with reverses displaying their Carthaginian allegiance (the palm tree, phonix in Greek, is likely a canting pun on the term Phoenician). Horses also feature prominently, likely referring to the outstanding cavalry of the Carthaginians and their Campanian allies.

View Certification Details from NGC