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Research Coins: Affiliated Auction

 
Sale: Nomos 1, Lot: 20. Estimate CHF3750. 
Closing Date: Tuesday, 5 May 2009. 
Sold For CHF400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SICILY, Himera. Circa 480-470 BC. Didrachm (Silver, 8.80 g 4). ΗΙΜΕRΑ Cock standing left Rev. Crab . BMC 24. SNG ANS 155 ff. Westermark, Himera 4. Well struck on a broad flan. Extremely fine.


Himera was in the far west of Sicily and was founded by Zankle c. 648. It was another Sicilian city that was very prosperous but then utterly destroyed by the Carthaginians in the late 5th century (in 408). It had long been an enemy of Carthage, especially since the great battle of Himera in 480, when Theron of Akragas and Gelon of Syracuse defeated a vast host of Carthaginians and their allies. Theron had taken control of Himera from a local tyrant and this coin, with the cock of Himera (the city’s name means ‘day break’ - a crowing rooster is a fine punning type) and the crab of Akragas, is a perfect symbol of the contemporary political reality.