Tetradrachm

Messana's tetradrachms of this period were struck under Carthaginian-aligned oligarchs who had expelled the Samian settlers earlier in the fifth century, leaving the city in a state of chronic political instability. The issues attributed to Caltabiano 630 fall within a narrow window before the Carthaginian offensive of 409–405 BC devastated much of Sicily, making uninterrupted mint production difficult to sustain across the full date range.

The series draws on die-engraving traditions associated with the broader Sicilian school, though Messana never attracted the same concentration of signed artists as Syracuse. Caltabiano's corpus remains the authoritative die study for this mint.