Syracuse bronze with 1920's Swiss collector's ticket

I picked up this pretty little bronze coin from Syracuse (Sicily) from a recent Naville Auction. I've been wanting to add something from Syracuse to my collection for a long time, and was very happy to come away with this one. It is from a 1920s Swiss collection, and as a nice bonus, it came with two old collector's tickets.


Sicily, Syracuse, circa 275-269 BC, (AE 20mm., 5.45g.), Wreathed head of Persephone (Kore) left,; uncertain symbol behind neck./ Rev. Bull butting l.; above, club above T; IE in exergue. Calciati 191.
From a Swiss collection from Tessin assembled in the 1920’s

A Syracuse tetradrachm will always be one of my "Grail" coins, but for now, I'm more than happy to have this nice little bronze in my collection. I love the left-facing portrait on this, as well as the charging bull on the reverse. And though it may sound crazy, I actually think that the surface crack on the obverse enhances the appearance of the coin for me...something about the crack makes the coin look more "ancient" and gives it a little more character.



The coin came with these 2 old collector's tags from the 1920s. I don't know much else about the owner of the collection, other than that he was from Switzerland, apparently spoke Italian, and unfortunately had some terrible handwriting.

The first tag just has the printed number 225, which I assume is some sort of catalog number. There's also a separate tag/slip of paper which is handwritten in Italian. The handwritten tag also has the number 225, with the number 171 handwritten towards the bottom. I'm not quite sure what the "171" means, perhaps a catalog number from an earlier owner of the coin? I don't speak Italian, but here's the best I could come up with for what the handwritten tag says (any help would be appreciated):

"Sicilia
[Syracuse in Italian]
Testa di Kore? [Head of Kore]
R/ Toro [bull] ____ _____
317-319 AC "

I was not able to figure out what the "317-319 AC" signifies. Any help with this tag or any other information about this collection would be greatly appreciated!

I know that there were many coins from this collection sold at that Naville auction, so if anyone else on CT got one from this collection, I'd love to see it.

Please post your bronzes from Syracuse or anywhere in Sicily (and of course, feel free to share your Syracuse tets if you've got one).

 

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That's a beautiful coin with an interesting ticket!

I read:

Sizilia
Syrakosai
Testa di Ceres ("head of Ceres")
Rv Toro cozzante ("butting bull")

The aC stands for "avanti Cristo", just as "BC" in English.

Here is an almost contemporaneous Sicilian bronze:


Sicily, Syracuse (under Hiketas), AE22, 287–278 BC. Obv: [ΔIOΣ EΛΛANIOY]; head of Zeus Hellanios, laureate, l. Rev: ΣYPAK[OΣION]; eagle standing l. on thunderbolt, with wings displayed; monogram to l. 22mm, 9.94g. Ref: CNS II, 157 DS 112 R1 4 (p. 304); HGC II, 1448.

 

@Shea19, reading your first post, I wanted to scroll down to the collector's tickets, because those are kind of a thing here. But you Stopped me with the coin.
Having never had any example of Syracuse, I'm kind of on your page about that. Given which, That (...I was only going to say, "freaking," in the first place, before Smacking Grandma (a manifestation of the Holy Ghost) stopped me) Profile is It. Forget the tickets for a minute, the mere evocation (right, at that, Um, Seamless chronological distance) of the infamous dekadrachms is Just, Um, Too Good.
If that was my first representative example, I'd be quietly ecstatic. Congratulations.
Regarding the bull on the reverse, the strike kind of emphasizes the net effect. To switch species, maybe along these lines.

 

@Orielensis, thanks for your illumination of the ticket. ...That vicariously, I'm saying, 'Right, language barrier, and all that.'

 

That's a very nice coin, Shea19.

Syracusan silver arguably surpasses any other Greek coinage but much of the city's bronze coinage is also very finely engraved and of high quality. And considerably more affordable!

Here are a couple of my Syracusan bronzes.

Litra, Time of Agathokles, circa 295-289 BC


Litra, Dionysios I, 400-390 BC

 

Thats a nice bull Shea, here are mine:



another coin from Syracuse:

 

Thanks so much for your help with the Italian, much appreciated! Interesting that the collector seems to have identified her as Ceres. Since she was a Roman goddess (equivalent of Demeter), I don’t think that Ceres could have been on a coin of this era.

 

@Shea19 , that is a very nice coin. I like the patina, but the details are very good. Nice capture.

SYRACUSE - AE's


Syracuse Sicily Pyrrhus 278-275 BCE AE 24mm 9.2g HeraklesHd - Athena Promachos SG1213 LE584 Left



SICILY Syracuse Hieron II 274-216 BC Æ26 15.9g hd Hieron II Left - ΙΕΡΟΝΩΣ Horseman galloping r holding spear HGC 2 1547 CNS II 193



Sicily Syracuse 317-289 BC AE 23 Hemilitron Agathokles Kore Bull Dolphin Left

 

That's a very nice coin with provenance @Shea19!


Sicily, Syracuse, Heiron II AE18. 274-216 BC. Obv: Diademed head of Poseidon left, within border of dots.
Rev: IEPW-NOS, trident head, with scrolls decoration between prongs; lotiform shaft, flanked by dolphins.


Sicily, Syracuse. Hiketas, 288-279 BC. AE 21. Obv: Head right of Persephone wreathed with corn; behind, corn stalk.
Rev: Galloping biga driven right by charioteer; above, star.

 

SYRACUSE AEs


Sicily Syracuse Hieron II 275-215 BCE AE20 Poseidon Trident Dolphin Left



Sicily Syracuse AE Onkia 12-10mm 1.4g 425-415 BCE Arethusa - Octopus BMC 249



Sicily Syracuse ca 410 BCE AE 19 Athena Wreath Hippocamp

 

Agathokles Kingdom of Sicily Syracuse Av Double dekadrachm (Octobol) 295-289 B.C. Obv. Helmeted head of Athena right Rv Thunderbolt Hoover 1535 Berend 4 5.76 grms 17mm Photo by W. Hansen Hoover in HGC refers to the coin as an octobol though traditionally the coin is referred to as a double dekadrachm. It can be seen that adding some four obols weight which would roughly be 2,8 grams would bring the coin in line with an Attic weight stater.

 

@Terence Cheesman, that is mind-blowing. (My familiarity with this stuff is on the same level as my aspirations as a collector. What follows is a real question: ) ...But, how do you get 'Octobol' from 'Double dekadrachm?' I'm getting the 'Double dekadrachm' part; picturing the module. After that, you've lost me.

 

Very handsome Syracusan bronze, @Shea19! I won one coin from this collection two months ago, but it's still with Naville. I'll be interested to see if the tags will be similar to yours. Unfortunately, I won't be getting the coin it until I manage to pick up at least one or two more shipping companions for it.

In the meantime, here are my butting bulls of Syracuse.


SICILY, Syracuse. Agathokles.
AE22. 10.15g, 22.2mm. SICILY, Syracuse, time of Agathokles, struck circa 317-310 BC. HGC 2, 1444; CNS 96. O: [ΣΥPAKOΣIΩN], Head of Kore-Persephone left, wreathed with grain; grain ear to right. R: Bull butting left; dolphin above and below, NK monogram above.


SICILY, Syracuse. Hieron II.
AE18. 4.08g, 17.9mm. SICILY, Syracuse, Hieron II, circa 275-269/265 BC. CNS 199; HGC 2, 1497; Virzi 1924 (this coin). O: Wreathed head of Kore-Persephone left. R: Bull butting left; club and monogram above, IE in exergue.
Ex Edgar L. Owen Collection; ex Thomas Virzi Collection (1881-1974), no. 1924


SICILY, Syracuse. Hieron II.
AE19. 5.48g, 19mm. SICILY, Syracuse, Hieron II, circa 275-269/265 BC. SNG Cop 867; HGC 2, 1497 (controls). O: ΣΥPAKOΣIΩN, Head of Kore-Persephone left wearing wreath of grain ears. R: Bull butting left; club and TI above, IE below.
Ex Cardinal Joachim Meisner (1933-2017) Collection

 

Syracuse Butting Bulls Bullfight!


Sicily Syracuse Hieron II compare Butting Bulls Right and Left Rev



Sicily Syracuse Hieron II 275-269 BC AE 22 Persephone Bull LEFT
Ex: @TIF



Sicily Syracuse Hieron II 275-269 BC AE 15 Persephone Bull RIGHT Rare
Ex: @Blake Davis

 

...Right, the initial stage of the drama, maybe?
Sorry. Time to shut up.

 

You asked for AE or tets. I'll play but my favorite coins of Syracuse are the minor silvers.
This AE23 (hemilitron) of Hiketas II, 287-278 BC Favorito 50f was overstruck on an earlier Syracuse Sear 1206 (Artemis/thunderbolt).


My tet is very special to me because it is such a mess. It is Boehringer 703 (v345/r481). (Does anyone own the Boehringer book on these? It is a die study for the specialist but you have to admire the work put into it.) Reverse die 481 (the head on these is the reverse) failed seriously before a replacement die was ready to go so the mint kept using it. Mine is about halfway through the gradual deterioration and shows a chunk missing from the die at 11 o'clock. Coins exist with a much larger break extending across the top. Compare to #703 on page 125 of the link below. On that one they did not tip the die so it is even and even worse on the break.
https://www.wildwinds.com/coins/pdfs/Syracuse_Boehringer_and_Tudeer.pdf


Tets are not terribly rare coins but nice specimens are. The break here caused the hammer crew to tilt the die a bit reducing the pressure on the broken edge but making the one edge weakly struck. This same tip caused the reverse face and legend to be rather well struck. I only afforded this coin because people avoided the flat parts even though the opposite edges were rather nice. I see all the letters in the city name and a pretty face. I deserve no more. I bought it in 1991 and will be keeping it for the duration.

Now for the coins I like best. My AR litra (474-450 BC) with particularly graceful octopus would be in high demand even if the obverse were half as good as the reverse. It is not. Many of these little coins we see in the market are individual 'field' finds that spent too much time in soil not good for their surfaces. Most of these have the ethnic abbreviated to four letters but this die spelled out Syrakosion even though calling this specimen 'full legend' might be a bit much. This one came to me in 1988.


This more common (less popular and cheaper) small silver of Syracuse is a litra with Arethusa backed by a four spoked wheel. These have no denomination mark but were valued at 1/20 of the tetradrachm (aka a 20 litra piece). These are not rare. Syracuse fans should be able to find one with some looking.


Much less common is the half litra (hemilitron - 440-430 BC) of the same basic type but the cutters at Syracuse restyled Arathusa with almost every die. I find this one particularly charming. The half coin used six dots on the reverse using the standard 12 onkia to the litra dot system. If you find one of these any better than this, you will have to pay.


Last and most certainly least is a silver hexas in terrible condition from flan lamination but showing the two dots of this 1/6 litra denomination. This is my lightest Greek silver coin at 0.05g but it has lost a lot of its weight to exfoliation. I got this one in 1992 and have been looking for an upgrade since. No luck. The hexas is 1/6 of the litra and the litra is 1/20 of the tetradrachm so this coin is 1/120th of a tetradrachm. If you find one of these for 1/120 the price of a tet, buy it when you can.

 

Very nice portrait on your coin @Shea19 !!

I share with Doug a passion for Sicilian small silver denominations. Doug, i have an interesting coin to complete your serie from Syracuse : an Onkia of 0,06g ! (for a theoretical weight of 0,071)

Even a great scholar like Giacomo Manganaro thought the onkia had never been struck. Numismatics always brings surprises...



Portraits on sicilian greek coins are often awesome. Here is one of my favorite from Syracuse.

 

Great onkia! It certainly shows the problem with such small coins. The flan was so thin that it left us with a cut out around the chin and a natural hole that follows the nose line. You can only do so much with so little metal!

I agree. The Sicilian artistry, Syracuse and a score of other authorities, continued for centuries and gave us not only portraits but collectable coins of every variety. That includes mystery coins from uncertain locations under uncertain circumstances. I believe this one was from the Roman period but I do not know the meaning of NASO. I bought it for the handsome Janiform portrait. Is this intended to be Janus or another Janiform deity? Are both faces the same?

 

@Shea19......Sweet coin!....
I have fond memories of visiting Syracuse about 25 years ago, it's so steeped in history, and remember in particular the feeling of awe when entering the Greek theatre...

I only have one coin...
Sicily, Syracuse. Hieron II. 274-216 BC. Æ-Litra (19mm, 6.38g).
Obverse..Diademed head of Poseidon left with border of dots.
Reverse..ΙΕΡΩΝΟΣ, Ornate scroll decorated trident with lotiform shaft flanked by dolphins.
Ref:for type SNG Cop 844-856.

 

NASO would be the name of the Roman quaestor (related or perhaps even the same person as L. Axsius Naso, moneyer at Rome in 71 BC?). There are some others of the same type issued by other quaestors, like MN ACILI, Q AVI, and CRASSIPES.

Here's one of Syracuse under the Romans. The style is decidedly less fine than what we typically associate with Syracuse, but I was attracted to it because of the unusual radiate bust of Artemis, as well as the Horus reverse, which suggests that Egyptian religion must have been vogue at the time.

SICILY, Syracuse (under Roman Rule)
AE20. 7.0g, 20.4mm. SICILY, Syracuse, after 212 BC. CNS 238; SNG ANS 1104-6; HGC 2, 1477. O: Radiate and draped bust of Artemis right, quiver at shoulder. R: ΣΥPAKOΣIΩN, Horus standing right, with solar disk on head, holding branch and wreath.