Nomos 16

SICILY. Leontinoi. Circa 430-425 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 27 mm, 16.63 g, 8 h). Laureate head of Apollo to left. Rev. VEONTI - NON Small lion's head with open jaws to right; to left, right and below, barley grain; above, kithara with seven strings. Cf. BMC 40 = Boehringer, Münzgeschichte 56, Jameson 631 and SNG ANS 243 (all struck from this obverse die, and all struck from the same reverse die that has the kithara below the lion's head). Extremely rare, if not unique, and apparently unpublished. Minor scratches; obverse struck from a rusty die; reverse struck slightly off center and with an ancient test cut, otherwise, about extremely fine.

From a German collection, acquired in Munich prior to 2005.

This late tetradrachm from Leontinoi forms part of a small group that has a symbol, which replaces one of the four barley grains on the reverse. The best known, and most commonly found type is the laurel leaf (as in the preceding lot), but other known varieties are a tripod, a satyr, a fish and the kithara, as here. The tripod is quite rare but the other three are extremely so.