Nomos 21

SICILY. Messana. Circa 425-421 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 25 mm, 17.22 g, 9 h). The Nymph Messana, wearing long chiton and holding whip in her right hand and the reins in both, driving biga of mules walking to right; above, Nike flying to right with a wreath to crown the mules; in the exergue, two opposed dolphins. Rev. ΜΕΣ-Σ-ΑΝΙ-Ο-Ν Hare springing to right; below, dolphin swimming to right. Caltabiano 499.6 (this coin). SNG ANS 361 (same dies). SNG Ashmolean 1844 (same dies). Attractive, toned, well-struck and well-centered. Obverse struck from a slightly rusty die, otherwise, extremely fine.

From the Aletheia Collection, from the Klingenfuss Collection in Zürich, Leu Numismatics 71, 24 October 1997, 55, acquired from that of V. M. Brand, Hess-Leu 49, 27 April 1971, 52, there said to be from "Egger 1906, 119", but, in fact, the great Egger Sicily sale, of 10 December 1906, does not contain this coin (lot 113 of that Egger sale is actually struck from the same dies – Caltabiano 499.5 – but it is definitely another coin), and it is highly probable that the reference to that auction in Hess-Leu 49 was, in fact, one of the late Silvia Hurter's dyslexic mistakes (she often made them, alas – it certainly did not reappear as a provenance in Leu 71) that simply was never corrected – or even noticed (though Caltabiano ignored it, making it likely that she left it out as unverified). It would certainly be lovely if the true pedigree could be found.