Lot 13
Sicily, Leontinoi. Silver Tetradrachm (17.38 g), ca. 450-440 BC. Laureate head of Apollo right. Reverse: LEO-N-TI-NO-N, head of roaring lion right; around, four barley grains. Boehringer 37 (same obv. die); SNG ANS 227 (same dies); SNG Lloyd 1055 (same obv. die); Jameson 629 (same obv. die); Rizzo pl. XXIII, 1 (same obv. die). Excellent metal and lustrous. Light tone. Nearly Mint State. Estimated Value $6,000 - UP
Like other Greek settlements in Sicily, Leontini was freed from the rule of tyrants in th 460s BC, which was reflected in design changes on its coinage. The chariot of the obverses, a design copied from Leontini's neighbor Syracuse, became instead the laureate head of Apollo, which was taken from the earlier reverse. In its place a new type, a lion' head fountain, was employed, the main design surrounded by four barley grains, an allusion to the city's agricultural wealth. These new types are punning types reflecting the city's patron deity, Apollo, and the lion that was sacred to him and from which Leontini derived its name (lion is leon in Greek).
Ex Roma XIX (27 March 2020), 281; NAC 114 (6 May 2019), 51 (hammer CHF 13,000); purchased privately from A. Tkalec AG in 1995.
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| Realized $19,200 |
