1064
1065
1064 Attica, Athens. Silver Tetradrachm (16.93 g), ca. 165-42 BC. 133/2 BC. Polych(armos), Nicog…, and Themistokles, magistrates. Head of Athena right, wearing triple crested Attic helmet decorated with Pegasos springing right. Rev. A-QE, owl standing right, head facing, on overturned amphora; across field, magistrates’ names: HPA, API-STOF, and EPISTR; to left, winged caduceus; Z on amphora, ME below; all within laurel wreath. (Thompson 379e-i). Extremely fine. $ 1,000 1065 Attica, Athens. Silver Tetradrachm (16.83 g), ca. 165-42 BC. 136/5 BC. Hera(kles), Aristoph…, and Epistr(atos), magistrates. Head of Athena right, wearing triple crested Attic helmet decorated with Pegasos springing right. Rev. A-QE, owl standing right, head facing, on overturned amphora; across field, magistrates’ names: HPA, API-STOF, and EPISTR; to left, club draped with lion’s skin and set over bow in bow-case; L on amphora, GL below; all within laurel wreath. (Thompson 339c-e). Extremely fine. $ 1,000
1066
1067
1066 Attica, Athens. Silver Tetradrachm (16.71 g), ca. 165-42 BC. New Style issue. 136/5 BC. Hera(kles), Aristoph…, and Polych(armos), magistrates. Head of Athena right, wearing triple crested Attic helmet decorated with Pegasos springing right. Rev. A-QE, owl standing right, head facing, on overturned amphora; across field, magistrates’ names: HPA, API-STOF, and POLY[X]; to left, club draped with lion’s skin and set over bow in bow-case; E on amphora, HP below; all within laurel wreath. (cf. Thompson 330-2). NGC grade AU; Strike: 5/5, Surface: 3/5. $ 1,000 1067 Islands off Attica, Aegina. Silver Stater (12.10 g), ca. 480-457 BC. Sea turtle, head turned to left in profile, with pelleted-T design on shell. Rev. Large incuse square with skew pattern composed of five sunken compartments. (Meadows grp. Iiia; Milbank pl. I, 14-5; SNG Delepierre 1522; Dewing 1674). Well struck in high relief and toned. Choice very fine. $ 1,250 One ancient tradition held that king Pheidon of Argos was the first Greek ruler to strike coins on Aegina, presumably because the island city was already a maritime trading powerhouse even before coined money was introduced to Greece proper. The coinage of Aegina became a tool for the island’s international trade and its types became so well recognized that the coins were frequently just referred to as “turtles.” Although Aegina was conquered by Athens in 456 BC and its inhabitants expelled on the eve of the of the Peloponnesian War in 431, thereby ending production of the turtles, the Aeginetic weight standard of ca. 12.1 g to the didrachm stater lived on as the preferred standard for many civic coinages of the Peloponnesos and Northern Greece. Try as they might, even the Athenians could not fully erase the old influence of Aegina.