Sicily, Leontinoi AR Tetradrachm. Circa 425-420 BC. Laureate head of Apollo to right / LEONTINON, head of roaring lion to right, with open jaws and tongue protruding; three barley grains around, mullet (chelon labrosus) swimming to right below. Boehringer, Münzgeschichte 62 var. (same dies, but before olive spray was added to obv.); SNG ANS 253 corr. (same obv. die, probably not tooled to remove olive spray); Basel 354 var. (same dies; same); Gillet 652 var. (same dies; same); HGC 2, 674. 17.27g, 26mm, 6h.

Good Very Fine; hairline flan crack, attractive cabinet tone. A rare example struck before an olive spray was added to the obv. die behind the head of Apollo.

Ex estate of Thomas Bentley Cederlind, Classical Numismatic Group, Auction 102, 18 May 2016, lot 110;
Ex Gerhard Hirsch Nachfolger, Auction 275, 22 September 2011, lot 3221;
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction I, 19 May 1999, lot 1162;
Ex Gerhard Hirsch Nachfolger, Auction 194, 19 February 1997, lot 86;
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Autumn Sale, 26 October 1995, lot 122.

The history of this coin's obverse die fell into two stages, as revealed by comparison of the extant examples, the present piece having been struck early in the die's lifetime before the olive spray behind Apollo's neck was carved into the die. The latter stage of the die's lifetime resulted in the majority of surviving coins struck with this die - which can be seen for instance in the coin referred to in Boehringer, obviously sharing the same obverse die as our coin but without the addition of the spray - whereas coins struck during the earlier stage of this die's history are far more rare, including that cited by the cataloguer of the ANS collection who, inferring from the obvious tooling on Apollo's hair on that example, erroneously believed that the coin had been tooled to remove the spray. This coin shows that there must have been a period when there was no spray carved into the die - it is well struck and there has clearly been no tooling to remove parts of the design.