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  1. Winning Losing Won Lost Watching Available in aftersale  
    The Mamertinoi
    E46, Lot 45:

    SICILY. Messana. The Mamertinoi. Circa 275-264 B.C. Æ quadruple unit. 17.45 gm. 26 mm. Laureate head of Ares right; APEOΣ to right, helmet to left / Bull butting left; MAMEΡ-TI-NΩN around and in exergue. HGC 2, 864. CNS I, 1. SNG ANS 399. Very Fine; good style, well centered, with a dark green patina.

    The ancient city of Zankle, named for its sickle-shaped natural harbor, was a settlement of great antiquity on the northeast tip of Sicily. It was renamed Messana by Anaxilas, tyrant of Rhegion.

     

    In about 288 B.C. a force of Oscan mercenaries, the Mamertinoi, attacked Messana and massacred the inhabitants. They ruled the city until the Romans won the island in the Punic Wars.

    The tyrants of Sicily had always employed mercenaries, often hired in Campania and Central Italy. In a land famed for its sweeping landscapes, ideal for the breeding of strong horses, the emergent Campanian nobility developed their renowned cavalry. Carrying heavy javelins for skirmishing and swords for melee, they used speed, agility, and flexibility of tactics to inflict damage on more heavily armed and therefore more slowly moving opponents. When King Agathocles of Syracuse died, many of his strong young mercenaries refused to leave Sicily and captured the Greek city of Messana in circa 288. They adopted the name of their war god Mamers, Oscan for Mars, often fighting like pirates and plundering the neighboring districts. Their activities which finally engaged the Romans against the Carthaginians set off the First Punic War (264-241 B.C.).

  2. Winning Losing Won Lost Watching Available in aftersale  
    E24, Lot 12:

    SICILY. Selinos. Circa 455-409 B.C. AR tetradrachm. 16.97 gm. 25 mm. Artemis, holding reins, driving quadriga right; beside her, Apollo standing right, drawing bow; barley grain in exergue / The young river god Selinos standing facing, head left, cradling palm frond and holding phiale over altar to left; before altar, cock standing left; to right, selinon (wild celery) leaf above bull standing left on basis. Schwabacher 30. HGC 2, 1221. SNG ANS 698. Jameson 720. Near Extremely Fine; beautiful style dies, well struck. Lightly toned with iridescence; traces of horn silver around part of rim. Exceptionally attractive example of this beautiful and difficult issue. Rare.

    Selinos was founded about 628 BC, the westernmost Greek colony on Sicily, and was named for the wild celery that flourished there. This magnificent tetradrachm was struck at the height of Selinos' power and wealth, within a few decades before its destruction in 409 BC by an army of combined forces from Segesta and Carthage. A similar type was chosen by Charles Seltman for his famous book "Masterpieces of Greek Coins."

    Twin brother and sister Apollo and Artemis were patron gods of Selinos. The inclusion of a cock, the badge of Himera, signifies the longstanding friendship of these two cities, which dates back to at least 480 BC, and their Classical period tetradrachms both similarly show a chariot scene on the obverse and a purifying sacrifice scene on the reverse. Both cities were destroyed in 409 BC by Carthage.

  3. Winning Losing Won Lost Watching Available in aftersale  
    A36, Lot 23:

    Withdrawn

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