“Wet Hair Apollo” Leontinoi Tetradrachm

[John060167]

Hi again!

 

Coming with a Leontinoi tetradrachm this time, a wet hair example! 

 

 

Sicily, Leontinoi

AR tetradrachm, 24mm, 17.03g, 1h

Struck 430-425BC, reverse die engraved by the leaf master

Obv: Laureate head of Apollo facing left, with “wet hair”

Rev: ΛΕΟΝΤΙΝΟΝ, Head of a lion with open jaws facing left, around, three barley grains and behind head, a laurel leaf

SNG ANS 257

Video: https://imgur.com/a/qe2uWw8

 

What is interesting about this coin is that is was made by a die master sometimes called “maestro della foglia”, or the leaf master, who signed his dies with a leaf. He also apparently made dies for Katane too.  The style of this piece is what attracted me for sure, so am happy to add it to my collection!

 

Something also interesting is that this is a circulated “wet hair” Leontinoi tetradrachm. Almost all of the wet hair Leontinoi tetradrachms known today came from a hoard found in the 1980s, and they are all in mint state grades from what i hear (there are super forgeries made from the hoard coins-see how similar the genuine and fake coins are-only thing i can tell is the edges on fakes are smoother)-good thing mine is circulated so i have to worry less about this 🤣

 

Before that hoard, wet hair Leontinoi tetradrachms were extremely rare and always found in circulated conditions, which makes me wonder if this coin has an old provenance? Maybe someone familiar with the series could help? All i know is it has a Dr. Busso Peus provenance from 2004 and is also ex-Tom Cederlind.

 

Please share your knowledge or your coins of Leontinoi, or whatever you wanna show!
 

cheers!

Edited March 1, 2023 by John060167

[ominus1]

...spectacular!

[Deinomenid]

Fakes can be really good of this type. Forgerynetwork.com has a few worryingly good ones.

Which  hoard do you mean from the 80’s?

The main one was Randazzo and these were the known Leontini coins. Apologies the image is only a screenshot.  

[kapphnwn]

The so called Leontini "wet head" Tetradrachms were a part of a hoard but not the Randazzo hoard as commented on by @DeinomenidThis was a separate hoard possibly found in the 1980's and appears to have be purchased in large part or in whole by Numismatic Fine Arts out of Beverly Hills California. A few of these coins were put on auction during the late 80's by NFA,  however the bulk were kept in what became to be known as the Athena Fund, a venture run by NFA in partnership with Merrill Lynch. Eventually with the collapse of NFA the Athena fund was auctioned off in three Auctions in late 1993. One of these auctions Auction II October 26 1993 had along with a number of these coins offered as individual lots, at least one bulk lot with at least a dozen or more of these coins.  I have been told that my coin is one of the coins from this bulk lot. I believe this as I purchased this coin very soon afterwards.   

Leontini Ar Tetradrachm circa 440-430 BC Obv Head of Apollo  left/ Rv Head of roaring lion left surrounded by three kernels of grain and one leaf HGC 671 17.34 grms 25 mm Photo by W. Hansen

One of the features of the coins struck with this obverse die is the evidence of die deterioration. This die started to fall apart very quickly. It is interesting that even on @John060167coin shown above that the large die break (which I usually call "the shield") is evident on his coin as well. What is not evident on his coin though on mine is the diebreak behind the eye. 

[John060167]

7 hours ago, kapphnwn said:

The so called Leontini "wet head" Tetradrachms were a part of a hoard but not the Randazzo hoard as commented on by @DeinomenidThis was a separate hoard possibly found in the 1980's and appears to have be purchased in large part or in whole by Numismatic Fine Arts out of Beverly Hills California. A few of these coins were put on auction during the late 80's by NFA,  however the bulk were kept in what became to be known as the Athena Fund, a venture run by NFA in partnership with Merrill Lynch. Eventually with the collapse of NFA the Athena fund was auctioned off in three Auctions in late 1993. One of these auctions Auction II October 26 1993 had along with a number of these coins offered as individual lots, at least one bulk lot with at least a dozen or more of these coins.  I have been told that my coin is one of the coins from this bulk lot. I believe this as I purchased this coin very soon afterwards.   

Leontini Ar Tetradrachm circa 440-430 BC Obv Head of Apollo  left/ Rv Head of roaring lion left surrounded by three kernels of grain and one leaf HGC 671 17.34 grms 25 mm Photo by W. Hansen

One of the features of the coins struck with this obverse die is the evidence of die deterioration. This die started to fall apart very quickly. It is interesting that even on @John060167coin shown above that the large die break (which I usually call "the shield") is evident on his coin as well. What is not evident on his coin though on mine is the diebreak behind the eye. 

Very beautiful example, thanks for sharing! Your coins are always beautiful.

I recently read about the Randazzo hoard of 1980, which had a lot of coins from places in Sicily such as Messana, Syracuse, Gela, Akragas, etc. But from what I have seen, the hoard of “wet hair” leontinoi tetradrachms comes from somewhere else, and there were apparently 1-2000 of them found? I didnt know about the NFA/Merrill Lynch venture, thats pretty cool though. So most Leontinoi tetradrachms probably have provenance back to that 1993 sale.

 (By the way here is another picture of mine from the 2004 Dr. Busso sale if anyone wants another shot)

Cheers!

Edited March 1, 2023 by John060167

[Ryro]

Certainly in my hit list, but not in my collection. So I'll share this lil litra from Leontini from a bit earlier:

 

SICILY. Leontini, Circa 450-440 BC. Litra (Silver, 12 mm, 0.83 g, 10 h). ΛΕΟ - Ν Lion’s head with open jaws to right. Rev. Apollo, nude, standing left holding phiale in his right hand and branch in his left; to left, altar; to right, barley grain. Boehringer, Münzgeschichte 50. SNG ANS 264. SNG Fitzwilliam 1054. A few rough spots, otherwise, very fine.

Ex: Nomos: Obols

Edited March 1, 2023 by Ryro

[Deinomenid]

Here's  one from  just before the Athenian expedition of 427 to try to protect Leontini from Syracusean aggression. (Not that Athens  had an ulterior  motive.)

 

Sicily, Leontini, Tetradrachm, c. 430, laureate head of Apollo right, ivy branch behind, rev. lion’s head right, surrounded by three barley grains and one fish, 17.31g (Boehringer 13.62; SNG ANS 254, same dies; Rizzo pl. 24, 11, same dies). Surface marks and some light porosity, otherwise very fine, dark tone, rare

 

[Brennos]

Congratulations !

This is one of my favorite coins.

three fake obverse dies made by the sicilian forger Fichera are known for this type. The big hoard is supposed to have been found at Carlentini near Leontini (not IGCH 2206). The auction house Sternberg also dispersed many coins in the 1980s.

 

 

Mine :

The “maestro della foglia” has also made some bronze coins dies.

 

Edited March 3, 2023 by Brennos