This silver coin is one of the earliest coins issued in Sicily. On the island minting began around 550 BC, a little later than in southern Italy.
The piece – it is either a stater or a didrachm – was struck in Selinus, a place that had been founded around the mid-7th century BC and was soon to become very prosperous. The city's emblem was the wild celery leaf that is depicted on the obverse of the coin. The Greek word for the wild celery was 'selinon,' hence the design on the coins from Selinus was a pun on the town's name.