Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 691. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $2900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SICILY, Katane. Circa 435-425 BC. AR Tetradrachm (17.07 g, 11h). Dies by the "Maestro della foglia." Charioteer driving fast quadriga right, holding kentron in right hand, reins in both; above, Nike flying right, crowning the horses with wreath / KATANAION, laureate head of Apollo right; parsley leaf to lower left. SNG ANS 1256 (same dies); SNG Copenhagen 178 (same dies); Rizzo pl. 11, 16 (same dies); Jameson 541 (same dies); Gulbenkian 185 (same dies). VF, lightly toned, partial flat strike. Struck on a broad flan. Rare. ($3000)

From the John F. Sullivan Collection. Ex William N. Rudman Collection (Triton V, 15 January 2002), lot 1180.

Around the middle of the 5th century the design of the Katanian tetradrachms underwent a radical change with the introduction of a racing chariot on the obverse and a head of Apollo on the reverse. While reflecting dramatic stylistic developments, these types were to remain relatively unchanged down to the time of the capture of the city in 404 BC by Dionysios, tyrant of Syracuse, who sold the population into slavery. The "Maestro della foglia" or "Master of the Leaf" is the appellation that Rizzo gave to the master engraver who began the transformation of Katanian coin design. The driver and horses come alive, as if they truly are trying to win the race, rather than merely posing. The face of Apollo begins to carry a hint of a bemused expression, and his locks of hair become more unruly. Over the course of the next decade the successors to the master – Euainetos, Herakleidas, and Choirion – would produce their own unrivaled masterpieces.