Watch List notes:

Sicily, Katane. Tetradrachm; Sicily, Katane; 420-410 BC, Tetradrachm, 17.08g. Gulbenkian-185 (same dies), SNG ANS-1256, Jameson-541. Obv: Quadriga r., driven by male charioteer holding goad, and crowned by Nike flying r. above. Rx: Laureate head of Apollo r., wild parsley leaf behind, ethnic KATANAION before. Ex SKA Bern 3, 1985, lot 105. A chef-d'oeuvre of the 'Maestro dalla foglia', this coin was struck when the Chalcidian cities Katane, Naxos and Leontinoi were holding their ground against the increasing supremacy of Syracuse. (The Leontinians were forced to leave their homes in 422 BC.) Nevertheless, this coin of Katane owes its galloping quadriga obverse type to a Syracusan prototype. The reverse head introduced a new appearance of the god Apollo, in beautiful style on our coin, thereby anticipating the corresponding dies of Euainetos and his school (after 409).. EF