ANCIENT GREECE - GREEK Sicily, Siculo-Punic issues. Decadrachm (5 shekels), period of the First Punic War ND (264-260 BC), Panormos ? Av. Head of Tanit left, crowned with ears of wheat, with earrings. Rv. Pegasus flying right; below, Punic legend "B'RST" [in the country]. De Luynes 3758 - SNG Cop.180 (Zeugitane) = SNG Cop. 998 (Sicily) - Jenkins 27-2 ; Silver - 37,75 g - 39,5 mm - 12 h From the P. M. collection, Jean Vinchon sale, 7 November 1966, n° 24 (10.200 f + fees) "of exceptional quality". NGC Ch XF* 5/5 4/5 Fine style (8583607-001). On a wide blank, with good title and centred strike. Portrait in fine style and high relief. Old collector's patina, with minor black spots on reverse. Superb. A mint from the First Punic War, a struggle for influence between the Greeks and the Carthaginians over Sicily, which was also coveted by the Romans who landed at Messina in 264 BC. This spectacular 5 shekel mint was probably struck in the fortified city of Panormos, in the hands of the Carthaginians, as indicated by the legend "in the country" on the reverse. In 241 BC, after 23 years of fighting, Carthage, exhausted, withdrew from Sicily.