130, Lot: 238. Estimate $100. Sold for $160. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SICILY, Syracuse. Hieron II. 274-216 BC. AR 3 Chalkous (10mm, 0.68 g). Head of Athena left, wearing crested Corinthian helmet / XIII; three pellets to left, E(?)A below. R.R. Holloway, "Eagle and Fulmen on the Coins of Syracuse", RBN 1962, p. 21 and pl. 1, 12 var. (obverse ethnic below bust); SNG ANS 907 var. (AF on reverse); BMC 668 var. (same); SNG Copenhagen 887 var. (K on reverse). near VF, toned. Rare.

From the Tony Hardy Collection.

This coin was first attributed to the reign of Hieron by W. Giesecke, Sicilia Numismatica, pp. 126-7, and this attribution has been accepted by later numismatists, including Franke and Holloway. Giesecke interpreted the reverse type \XIII to be the denomination, the X standing for CalkouV and the \ -- III as two different indications of the numeral. Agreeing with Giesecke, Holloway states that "his interpretation has much to recommend it. It avoids postulating the use of Roman numerals in pre-Roman Syracuse, and it has the inestimable advantage of agreeing with the relative weights of the coins (ca. 0.5 gm for the Herakles head pieces, ca. 0.75 gm for the Athena head coins)."