Naville Numismatics Ltd.
Auction 55 9 Feb 2020
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Sicily, work of the "Maestro della Foglia" Catana Tetradr circa 415-410, AR 26.7mm., 16.96g. Slow quadriga r. driven by charioteer, wearing long chiton and holding reins with both hands; above, Nike flying l. to crown him. Rev. KATANAIOΣ Laureate head of Apollo r., with short hair; behind, plane leaf. Giesecke, Sicilia Numismatica, pl. 4, 8 (these dies). Rizzo pl. XI, 15 and pl. XII, 10 (these dies). Rizzo, Intermezzo, p. 16, 8c (this obverse die) and p. 18, 6 (this dies). AMB 331 (this dies).
Rare, nicely toned and About Very Fine.
Work of the "Maestro della foglia", dubbed thus for his habit of "signing" his work with a special type of leaf, instead of the usual initials or name: on the left side of the reverse of this coin we find an apion leaf next to the neatly designed head of Apollo, wearing a laurel crown in his hair. Apart from guaranteeing the authenticity (sphragis) of the master engraver, the apion leaf motiv (an apion crown was also first prize for winners of the games of Nemea in Argolis), is coherent with the image of Apollo as discoverer of the healing effects of plants, a quality which the god shared with Esculapius, according to the great Pythagoras, as Pliny the Elder informs us (Naturalis Historia XXV, 13). On other coins with greater mythological coherence, the Maestro's signature is represented by a laurel leaf
In addition, winning bids of EEC clients for this coin are subject to a 5% fee on hammer price as a reimbursement for import duty paid to HMRC.
This coin is Not subject to any kind of US import restrictions.
Rare, nicely toned and About Very Fine.
Work of the "Maestro della foglia", dubbed thus for his habit of "signing" his work with a special type of leaf, instead of the usual initials or name: on the left side of the reverse of this coin we find an apion leaf next to the neatly designed head of Apollo, wearing a laurel crown in his hair. Apart from guaranteeing the authenticity (sphragis) of the master engraver, the apion leaf motiv (an apion crown was also first prize for winners of the games of Nemea in Argolis), is coherent with the image of Apollo as discoverer of the healing effects of plants, a quality which the god shared with Esculapius, according to the great Pythagoras, as Pliny the Elder informs us (Naturalis Historia XXV, 13). On other coins with greater mythological coherence, the Maestro's signature is represented by a laurel leaf
In addition, winning bids of EEC clients for this coin are subject to a 5% fee on hammer price as a reimbursement for import duty paid to HMRC.
This coin is Not subject to any kind of US import restrictions.