CATANA SILVER TETRADRACHM – EX CHARLES GILLET COLLECTION AND FROM THE HAMBURGER 1932 SALE – XF GREEK SICILY COIN (Inv. 20980)

$12,500.00

20980. SICILY. CATANA. Ca. 450–415 BC.
Silver Tetradrachm, 17.47 g, 22 mm. Issue of ca. 435 BC.
Obv. Charioteer driving biga right, Nike flying above right, crowning horses. Rev. KATANAI[OΣ], laureate head of Apollo to right.
HGC 2, 568; SNG ANS 1252.
Ex Charles Gillet Collection, no. 385 = Leu 81, 5/16/2001, lot 66 = Leo Hamburger (Frankfurt) Auction 96, 10/25/1932, lot 40.
XF, scattered minor marks, old cabinet toning.

This beautiful coin reflects the general artistry of Sicilian engravers in the late fifth century BC as well as the strong influence of Syracusan coinage throughout Sicily. Whereas Syracusan tetradrachms regularly feature the head of the local nymph Arethusa on the reverse, at Catana the head of Apollo was used instead to advertise the Chalcidian origin of the city’s inhabitants. Apollo was a popular deity on Chalcis, as he was for most Ionian Greek peoples, and his sanctuary at Delphi frequently encouraged Greek colonizing expeditions to Sicily. The present tetradrachm once belonged to Charles Gillet (1879–1972), the son of a prominent French industrialist and director of the businesses that ultimately became the important chemical firm Rhône-Poulenc. The great wealth that accrued to Gillet from inheritance and business success permitted him to become a collector of art, including coins. He probably began collecting Greek coins in the 1920s, and ultimately amassed a collection of exceptionally beautiful coins, often from famous collection sales. This is one such piece which he clearly acquired directly from the Hamburger sale of 1932. Gillet had a reputation for developing his collection with an outstanding eye for beauty, rarity, and quality, as is apparent from this Athenian piece. Although Gillet began to sell off some parts of his collection in the 1950s, many of its stars were sold after his death in the legendary anonymous sale simply entitled “Griechische Münzen aus der Sammlung eines Kunstfreundes.”