SICILY, Piakos. Circa 420-400 BC. Æ Hemilitron (18mm, 5.79 g, 2h). Dies by the
Maestro della Foglia (Master of the Leaf). Laureate head of river god left; Π•I•A•K•I•N• before / Hound attacking stag right; acorn to left, oak leaf to right. Boehringer,
Frühen 4 (V1/R3); Campana 1 (same dies); CNS 1/2 (same dies); Jenkins,
Coinages p. 92; Rizzo pl. LX, 13; HGC 2, 1100 (this coin illustrated). EF, dark brown and green patina. Rare.
Ex Roma III (31 March 2012), lot 64 (where it hammered at £2800).
Jenkins cited only three examples of this rare issue and identified a site 8 km southwest of Mendolito, between Aitna and Adranon, as the location of the ancient city of Piakos. The similarity and refinement of style with the celebrated maestro della foglia Apollo-head issues of Katane (cf. SNG ANS 1254-6), which depict the Olympian as a mature young man with a sullen expression, led to the speculation by Rizzo, with which Jenkins concurred, that the same ‘artist of the leaf’ was responsible for both issues. This stylistic link provides the only chronological evidence for this issue.
