Sicily. Segesta. Circa 412-400 BC. Didrachm (Silver, 24.01 mm, 8.26 g). Hound standing right, on exergue line with tail hanging down; above, small head right erased (Apollo?); border of dots. Rev. [ΕΓ]ΕΣΣΤΑIΩN, Head of nymph Aigeste right, hair on the temples and the back of the head rolled up over a thin band; all within a shallow circular incuse. Hurter 183a (V55’/R102, this coin illustrated). SNG ANS -. SNG München -. Buceti -. Cf. HGC 2, 1148. Attractively toned. Good Very Fine. Extremely Rare, only the third example known from this die pair, but the only one reviewed by Hurter with the small head removed.

Ex Leu Numismatik AG Zürich 77, 11 May 2000, lot 96.

The remarkable peculiarity of this coin lies not only in the erased (for a reason now unknown) of the small obverse head, but also in the presence of two variants, the double sigma and the omega in the name of the city ΕΓΕΣΣΤΑIΩN. The double sigma at Segesta is found only on this didrachm (Hurter, R102) and on the tetradrachm (Hurter) T 5.