Last month I purchased my Handbook of Coins of Sicily, Oliver Hoover, published by CNG - almost 500 pages of numismatic goodness. It's got to be the most comprehensive and inexpensive guide to Sicilian coinage available. Today I had my first chance to use it on a coin from Kentoripa. Hoover tells us... "No further coinage appears to have been produced until the late third century BC, when Kentoripa struck a new coinage in connection with the Second Punic War (218-201 BC) between Rome and Carthage. Two denominations with marked face values expressed in terms of the chalkous (bronze) unit, a new name for the old Sicilian onkia. A large coin of denomination A module pairs the head of Zeus with his thunderbolt. Its face value as a tetrachalkon is indicated by the Greek letter-numeral Δ. The treatment of the thunderbolt is very similar to that of the contemporary coins of the Syracusan king, Hieronymos (215-214 BC)." [Hoover, p. 176] SICILY, Kentoripa (Centuripe). Circa 214-210 BC. Æ Tetrachalkon, 10.6g; 28x25mm, 2h. Obv.: Laureate head of Zeus right. Rev.: KENT◦/PIΠINΩN; Thunderbolt; Δ below. Reference: HGC II, 633 (p. 177)
Very informative book, and nice coin as well! My coin will fall under number 635: Sicily, Kentoripai Æ Hemilitron (Ca. 344-336 B.C.) Obverse: Laureate head of Apollo right. Reverse: KENTO-ΡIΠINΩN; lyre, three pellets to left and right. I am surprised it says in the book that this coin is struck "2nd century BC". I don't remember where I got the "344-336 BC" from. I think it must be from Calciati III p. 173, 5. Is Calciati considered to be outdated?
Great coin! I don't know anything about your dating discrepancy, but Hoover says, "No coinage has been attributed to Kentoripa before the Timoleontic refoundation of the city." In the 330's they made some nymph/panther bronze issues, then nothing until my coin. Yours comes a bit later, based on the Roman declining uncial standard.
