Nomos 21

SICILY. Leontini. 440-430 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 23.5 mm, 17.38 g, 4 h), with dies engraved by the Leaf Master – il maestro della foglia. Laureate head of Apollo to left, his hair bound up at the back. Rev. ΛΕΟΝΤΙΝΟΝ (retrograde) Head of a lion with open jaws to left; around, three barley grains (above, to left and below), and, behind to right, a laurel leaf. Boehringer, Münzgeschichte 53. SNG ANS 240. Toned and of an attractive, early Classical style. Some flan faults on the obverse and minor surface roughness on the reverse, otherwise, nearly extremely fine.

From the Agent Collection, Sotheby’s Zurich, 27 October 1993, 213.

This coin, bearing the laurel leaf on the reverse, must have been struck very shortly prior to the following lot, which bears a fully Classical style head of Apollo rather than the one we have here, which harks back to the late Archaic, as well as a similar laurel leaf.