SICILY, SILVER TETRADRACHM OF LEONTINI, ca. 460 BC, 17.206g, 2h. Hirmer pl. 7, 22 (same dies). Old cabinet tone. Perfectly centered and struck. Probably the finest portrait of Apollo in the Leontinian coinage, reflecting the city's freedom from tyranny. Good extremely fine. Ira & Larry Goldberg 2016 (91) lot 1720; privately acquired from Tom Cederlind
Leontini, like Syracuse and Naxos, was freed from the rule of tyrants in the 460s BC and the new political freedom was marked by a change in the iconography of her coinage: the Syracusan chariot was dropped from the obverse and replaced by the head of Apollo. This and the new reverse type of the lion's head surronded by barley corns, still influenced by Syracuse, refer to the city's name and to the patron deity of the city - lion is 'leon' in Greek and the lion was sacred to Apollo.