The New York Sale
Auction 42 9 Jan 2018
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Sicily, Himera. Silver Tetradrachm (17.52 g), ca. 409-407 BC. Signed by the artist Mai… maestro della foglia ("Master of the leaf"). Charioteer, holding reins in both hands, driving fast quadriga right; above, Nike flying left, crowning charioteer with wreath and holding tablet inscribed MAI; in exergue, ketos left. rev. [I]MERION (retrograde), Himera standing facing, head left, sacrificing out of patera over horned altar and raising arm; to right, satyr bathing in fountain beneath lion-headed spout. Gutmann-Schwabacher 20; Arnold-Biucchi 22; Rizzo pl. 21, 23; Basel 306; Kraay-Hirmer 71. Lustrous and lightly toned. Mint State. Estimated Value $8,000
From the Dionysus Collection.
This tetradrachm belongs to the celebrated Sicilian tradition of coin dies signed by their highly skilled engravers. The MAI who signed this issue also signed dies that he engraved for Syracuse. So-called maestro della foglia because of the high classical artistry of the artist's dies and his penchant for "signing" them with an olive leaf. The coin was produced at the same time that the engravers of Syracuse were signing their dies with their names and reflects the same milieu of justified pride in the production of miniature masterpieces. Like other contemporary engravers, the maestro della foglia did not limit his work to the coinage of a single city. In addition to issues to issues of Katane, he also appears to have engraved dies for the coinage of Piakos.
Despite the high artistry of the coin, it was struck on the eve of disaster for Himera. In 410 BC, a Carthaginian expeditionary force under Hannibal Mago intervened in a conflict between Segesta and Selinous which resulted in the defeat of the latter and the destruction of Selinous in 409 BC. Although not part of his mandate, Mago followed this victory by besieging and destroying Himera in revenge for the defeat of his grandfather by the Himerites some 60 years earlier. This tetradrachm may have been hopelessly struck in part to hire mercenaries and improve the poor fortifications of Himera in response to the threat of the Carthaginian army.
From the Dionysus Collection.
This tetradrachm belongs to the celebrated Sicilian tradition of coin dies signed by their highly skilled engravers. The MAI who signed this issue also signed dies that he engraved for Syracuse. So-called maestro della foglia because of the high classical artistry of the artist's dies and his penchant for "signing" them with an olive leaf. The coin was produced at the same time that the engravers of Syracuse were signing their dies with their names and reflects the same milieu of justified pride in the production of miniature masterpieces. Like other contemporary engravers, the maestro della foglia did not limit his work to the coinage of a single city. In addition to issues to issues of Katane, he also appears to have engraved dies for the coinage of Piakos.
Despite the high artistry of the coin, it was struck on the eve of disaster for Himera. In 410 BC, a Carthaginian expeditionary force under Hannibal Mago intervened in a conflict between Segesta and Selinous which resulted in the defeat of the latter and the destruction of Selinous in 409 BC. Although not part of his mandate, Mago followed this victory by besieging and destroying Himera in revenge for the defeat of his grandfather by the Himerites some 60 years earlier. This tetradrachm may have been hopelessly struck in part to hire mercenaries and improve the poor fortifications of Himera in response to the threat of the Carthaginian army.