SICILY, Syracuse. Gelon I. 485-478 BC. AR Tetradrachm (26.5mm, 17.11 g, 6h). Struck circa 480 BC. Charioteer, wearing long chiton, holding kentron in right hand and reins in both, driving slow quadriga right; above, Nike, wearing long chiton, flying right, holding wreath in right hand and placing left hand on rearmost horses head / Head of Arethousa right, wearing pearl tainia and linear and pearl necklaces; four dolphins and ΣVRA-KOΣI-O-N: around. Boehringer Series IV, 45 (V26/R29); HGC 2, 1304. Attractively toned, traces of find patina. Good VF. Ex Scandinavian private collection; Numismatica Ars Classica 92 (23 May 2016), lot 126; Numismatica Ars Classica 64 (17 May 2012), lot 710; Gorny & Mosch 180 (12 October 2009), lot 41; Hess-Divo 310 (22 October 2008), lot 30; Numismatic Fine Arts IX (10 December 1980), lot 69; Hofrat Hermann Collection (Helbing [52], 24 October 1927), lot 2671.Under the rule of Gelon I (485-478 BC), Syracuse not only began to be the dominant power in Sicily, but won a major international victory against the Carthaginians at Himera in 480 BC, supposedly on the same day that the Persians were defeated at Salamis. To achieve this success, the Syracusan mint greatly increased its output of coinage, mostly tetradrachms, to provide funds for war. These issues, however, were archaic in style, like this coin. However, the wealth and international renown that Syracuse gained following Himera created a long-term cultural benefit for the area, since mainland Greece saw it not as a western backwater, but as a bastion of Greek ideals against the barbarians. Scientists, poets, and artists, especially engravers, were now encouraged to emigrate to the city, bringing with them the experimental concepts then appearing in mainland Greece. Gelons victories provided the financial means for his successors to make use of these talented individuals to enhance the renown of Syracuse as one of the main cultural centers of the Greek world. Since the issuing of coinage was an important part of maintaining Syracusan power, it now also became the vehicle by which the city could demonstrate its importance as a center for new intellectual and cultural ideas. As the tetradrachm was the denomination that was used for large-scale payments and appeared to a wide audience of both Greeks and non-Greeks, it became the canvas upon which the new artistic concepts of classical art were tried. Syracuses success with classical style tetradrachms expanded to the citys other denominations. Elsewhere in Sicily and Magna Graecia, cities wishing to keep in cultural step adopted the classical style for their coinages. Thus, by the beginning of the fourth century BC, the coinage of Syracuse and Sicily became recognized as masterpieces of Classical Greek numismatic art. 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.
