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Sicily, Akragas: silver hemidrachm, ca. 410-406 BC

Sicily, Akragas: silver hemidrachm, ca. 410-406 BC

Obverse- eagle right, clutching dead hare in its talons, barley grain behind.
Reverse- Crab, with ketos below, swimming left with fish in its jaws.

16 mm, 1.8 g. SNG ANS 1012. Ex-Gitbud-Naumann, Germany, through VCoins store, 5/28/2014.

image

Slightly larger picture (900x450)
Original seller page
Coins of Sicily, Akragas (Wildwinds)

Wikipedia pages
Akragas (Agrigentum, Agrigento)
Ketos (cetus)

When posted here, this coin was part of my Greek & Roman Provincial collection.

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Comments

  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
    What can I say? I guess I was just feeling "crabby". I have long admired the ancient Akragas "crab" designs. The bigger tetradrachms are quite expensive, so I was happy to find this little hemidrachm that fit comfortably within my pricerange. It's seen some wear, but is not unappealing. I think the contrasting toning compensates for the wear. And boy, there's sure a lot of action going on here, for such a relatively small coin. Predators seem to be the theme. First we've got an eagle seizing a hare in its talons, and on the reverse, under the crab, there is a ketos- or cetus- (a sea monster, in other words) chomping a fish. I had to have this one.

    Explore collections of lordmarcovan on CollecOnline, management, safe-keeping, sharing and valuation solution for art piece and collectibles.
  • theboz11theboz11 Posts: 6,576 ✭✭✭
    I prefer Chesapeake Blue boiled with load of Bay seasoning,, but that one is nice tooimage
  • ZoharZohar Posts: 6,629 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Check off another of that long list!
  • SmEagle1795SmEagle1795 Posts: 2,135 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Fantastic coin! That's on my wantlist as well.
    Learn about our world's shared history told through the first millennium of coinage: Colosseo Collection
  • a fun type to represent sicily in your set image
    =Recipient of the coveted "You Suck" award 4/28/2014=
  • nicholasz219nicholasz219 Posts: 1,386 ✭✭✭
    Ha, I've seen the drachms before and everytime I think "Mr. Crabs!" from Spongebob. They are great coins and it is nice to see you found such a nice example to fit your budget AND your collection.

    Good work, LM.
  • JCMhoustonJCMhouston Posts: 5,306 ✭✭✭
    Very nice, that's a design I quite like.
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
    When I got cold feet on my short-lived raw Greek collection and decided to sell it off to add to my Box of 20, this coin was the only one that met my cost on eBay.

    I think I might want to buy another, higher-grade example of this type for the Box of 20 later, maybe.

    It's just such a neat design, packing an awful lot of action onto a coin that's no bigger than a modern US cent or dime.

    Explore collections of lordmarcovan on CollecOnline, management, safe-keeping, sharing and valuation solution for art piece and collectibles.
  • nicholasz219nicholasz219 Posts: 1,386 ✭✭✭
    I will happily admit that I find a lot of coins to add to my want list through the posts from you fine folks on here. This is another on the LM inspired list.
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