Sicily, Katane (modern day Catania), silver tetradrachm (17.20 g) c. 450 BC, laureate head of Apollo right, ethnic before/slow biga advancing right; as SNG ANS 1240, about very fine, a beautifully delicate light old cabinet tone, obverse residual lustre.
ex-Jacob Hirsch auction XXXII (14-15 November 1912), lot 35; and presumably ex-Ignazio Virzi (1859-1907), Palermo.
Ignazio Virzi was consul for Guatemala at Palermo, and a noted dealer in ancient coins and other antiquities. His nephew Tommaso "Tom" Virzi (1881-1974) worked for Jacob Hirsch at the time of this sale, and it is assumed that the coins in Hirsch XXXII were from the estate of his uncle Ignazio Virzi.