My first gold of the year and also my first significant pickup of 2022. @AncientJoe helped me acquire this one and I'm thrilled after getting skunked at the sales in January. Had this been in one of those sales I don't think I could have touched it, particularly because of the 1906 provenance. So shout out to @AncientJoe ! I owe this acquisition solely to him. SICILY. Syracuse. Dionysius I (406/5-367 BC). AV 20-litrai or tetradrachm (10mm, 0.99 gm, 8h). Attic standard, ca. 406/5 BC. ΣYPA, head of Heracles left, wearing lion skin headdress / Σ-Y/P-A, quadripartite incuse square; small head of Arethusa in central incuse circle, all within incuse circle with double border. SNG ANS 351-4. HGC 2, 1289. NGC Choice AU 4/5 - 5/5. Ex Gustav Philipsen Collection (Hirsch XV, 1906), lot 1175
Nice! I've thought about bidding in Lansky before but I've heard negative things about how they shill up their own coins often and play other games like that. I have seen a few coins go at prices I would have paid there before though.
Lansky/ Gallery 51/ Bru Wellco all same auction house. I have gotten 5 coins thru them, all where graded same rules as CNG/ Kunker STRICT.... I found dealing with them very positive. Plus they send lots via priority post/ no value. My only peeve/ they want funds sent by wire instead on bank draft, so it costs $45 extra.
I'm very glad to have helped pair you with this coin! It's a great piece, made even better by its pedigree. The New York auction sales prices were absurd; in my eyes, this coin is a solid balance of condition, style, pedigree, and cost. It does have some obverse die rust but is well struck and doesn't have the common die shift many examples hold. I haven't had a chance to research varieties in depth but the low weight (0.99g vs 1.16g) is numismatically interesting and puts it on a different weight standard, making it significantly rarer as well.
Excellent coin and great provenance. Well done. It has an obvious resemblance to a tetradrachm in my collection, and I assume was inspired by this design. This coin was minted a 100 or so years earlier, but must have still been in circulation, or at least very well known, at the time your coin was minted.