SICILY, Akragas. Circa 465/0–445/0 BC. AR Tetradrachm (25mm, 17.31 g, 7h). Sea eagle standing left; AKRAC-ANTOΣ (partially retrograde) around / Crab within incuse circle. Westermark, Coinage, Period II, Group II, 343 (O9/R32); HGC 2, 79; Boston MFA 221 = Warren 188 (same obv. die). Lightly toned, underlying luster, a few tiny flan flaws. EF. Well centered and struck, with exceptional detail. Akragas, Roman Agrigentum, was situated close to the southern coastline of Sicily midway between Gela and Selinos. Founded by colonists from Gela circa 580 BC, Akragas grew to become the second most important city on the island after Syracuse, deriving much of its wealth from the export of agricultural produce to Carthage, which lay about 200 miles to the west. Its coinage commenced in the closing years of the 6th century and principally consisted of silver didrachms down to about 440 BC, after which the tetradrachm became the principal denomination. The first series of tetradrachms, though, coincided with the last period of didrachms, with all featuring the same types that had persisted since the beginning of the citys coinage: on the obverse, an eagle, sacred to Olympian Zeus, to whom the city dedicated an immense temple, and a reverse with an overhead view of a crab, harvested from the sea as a delicacy in the region. After 440 BC, as with many of the coinages of the great Sicilian cities, the designs became more complex and artistic, with one or two eagles shown devouring a hare on the obverse, and a galloping quadriga ultimately replacing the crab on the reverse. In the final decade of the 5th century, as the artistry of it coinage reached its zenith, Akragas suffered the same fate as many of the other Greek cities of Sicily when it was stormed and sacked by the invading Carthaginians (406 BC). Though its coinage continued thereafter, the scale and beauty of its 5th century series were never attained again. The final winners of all Triton XXIX lots will be determined at the live public sale that will be held on 13-14 January 2026.Triton XXIX – Session One – Lot 1-301 will be held Tuesday morning, 13 January 2026 beginning at 9:00 AM ET.Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyers fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers. The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and stable previous version of Chrome and Firefox.
