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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;The Meat man, post: 26713509, member: 135271&quot;]Four for the price of one!</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center"><i>[ATTACH=full]1705619[/ATTACH] </i></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>SICILY, AKRAGAS</i></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>AR Hemidrachm (14.76mm, 1.86g, 2h)</i></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>Struck 420-406 BC</i></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>Obverse: Eagle facing left, standing on and tearing at hare</i></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>Reverse: Crab; below, fish swimming right</i></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>References: SNG ANS 1003-9</i></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>Well-centered strike with attractive toning.</i></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>The ancient city of Akragas came into being around 582 BC, as a colony founded by Greeks from Gela, a city about 40 miles to the east. The site was well-chosen, strategically located on a high plateau near the Hypsas and Acragas rivers and controlling a vast and rich agricultural area.</i></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>By the 5th century BC, Akragas had become the second-largest city on the island (behind Syracuse), with a population of perhaps 200,000 people, and had become a leader in the art and culture of the Classical period. Part of that artistic brilliance was manifested in the city’s coinage, which includes some of the most beautiful and recognized coins of the ancient world. This coin, though small, showcases that artistic talent with finely rendered naturalistic images of various creatures, notably the crab, which was the symbol of the ancient city.</i></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i><br /></i></p><p><br /></p><p>A massive copper medallion of a similar type, a replica of a tetradrachm held in the BNF:</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center"><i>[ATTACH=full]1705620[/ATTACH] </i></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>SICILY, AKRAGAS</i></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>Modern cast CU &quot;tetradrachm&quot; medallion (63.96mm, 187.10g, 11h)</i></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>Dated 1969. Monnaie de Paris mint, no. 253 of 500</i></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>Obverse: ΑΚRΑΓ – ΑΝΤΙΝ – Ο – Ν, eagle left, with wings spread, perched on and tearing at dead hare; murex and scallop on rock below</i></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>Reverse: Crab above, large fish (polyprium cernium) swimming left below; cockle-shell in left field</i></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>On edge: CUIVRE 1969 N* 253/500</i></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>References: For tetradrachm type see SNG Lockett 715, Kraay-Hirmer 173-174</i></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>Richly toned copper surfaces. An exact, scaled-up, and incredibly detailed replica of the magnificent specimen held in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (<a href="https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb418341701" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb418341701" rel="nofollow">https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb418341701</a>)</i></p><p>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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