Triton XIV, Lot: 23. Estimate $7500. Sold for $24000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SICILY, Katane. Circa 412-410 BC. AR Drachm (19mm, 4.20 g, 11h). From dies in the style of Prokles. Charioteer, holding kentron in right hand, reins in left, driving fast quadriga right; above, Nike flying left, crowning charioteer with wreath held in her right hand; double exergue line below / Head of Amenanos left, wearing tainia; two fish and crayfish around, AMENANOΣ above. SNG Lloyd 906 var. (ethnic on obv.); SNG Lockett 733 var. (same); SNG Manchester 384 (same dies); Stack’s (14 January 2008), 2081 (same dies). EF, very lightly toned, hairline flan crack. Well centered and sharply struck from fresh dies. Very rare.

This drachm was struck during the golden age of Sicilian numismatic art, when masters such as Euainetos and Kimon were at the height of their skill. Some of these masters exhibited their work on various issues at Katane, and Mirone lists two series of drachms during this time, from dies by Choirion and Euainetos, some of which were even signed. Nearly all of the very rare drachms of this type are struck from dies of these two engravers. Years after Mirone’s work, though, a drachm was published in the Lloyd Collection (catalog no. 906), which was struck from unsigned dies, but closely resembled the style of the Katane tetradrachms whose dies were engraved by Prokles. Notable details of this style are the double exergue line on the obverse, the upright posture of the charioteer, the positioning of the legs of the horses, and the style of the hair of Amenanos. Over the years, a few more specimens have come to light that exhibit these same characteristics; clearly all of these drachms are from the work of the same master celator. Incidentally, the absence of the city ethnic here is not unusual during this period; one drachm of Choirion (Mirone 67), and some of the tetradrachms engraved by each of the masters likewise lack this element.