Ancient greece coinage series#

UNIQUE AND HIGHLY IMPORTANT, ONLY THIS SINGLE EXAMPLE KNOWN!ġ2871.ĚTTICA, ATHENS, Circa 500/490-485/0 BC. My thanks to David Sear for the attribution. 2, 54-9 for fractions with a reverse type similar to this piece), but there seems to be no other known example of an overlap of types between these two distinct series. The first 'owls' with a head of Athena on obverse appear to have been introduced about 510 BC (cf. 1, 45) but here the reverse is consistently a diagonally divided incuse square. Svoronos, Corpus of the Ancient Coins of Athens, pl.

Ancient greece coinage series#

The obverse bucranium is well known on the 'Wappenm¸nzen' series of ca. AΘE to l., olive berry to r., all within incuse square. AR fraction, 0.87 gm., Unpublished, Sear_, SNG Copenhagen_, Plant_, SNG ANS_. AN APPARENTLY UNIQUE COIN LINKING ATHENIAN WAPPENMUNZEN AND THE LATER OWLS. Ex BCD Collection (not in previous sales).ĩ347. Dengate period III, 1-7 BCD Peloponnesos (Megalopolis) 1548-9. Laureate head of Zeus left / Pan seated left on rock, raising hand and holding logobolon to knee, eagle left, with wings spread. on base holding aplustre, stag at her side, scepter surmounted by dove behind, all within laurel wreath/Prow of galley r, AKAP monogram beneath, magistrate's name above. Pegasos flying l., AN monogram beneath/Hd. Good VF with the entire tortoise on the flan which is rare.Ħ059.ĚKARNANIA, ANACTORIUM, c. Aigina minted coins with a smooth-shelled sea turtle design and also produced this scarcer type featuring tortoises, the latter distinguishable by their segmented shells. The tortoise and turtle were symbols for Aigina, in much the same way the owl represented Athens. The practice spread rapidly to Athens and Corinth, and the huge advantages of having a standardized coinage helped make ancient Greece a wealthy and powerful culture. Aigina, an island-state situated halfway between Attica and Argolis, was the first place in Europe to issue coinage, following the lead of Lydia in Asia Minor. Land tortoise with segmented shell / Square incuse with skew pattern. ISLANDS OFF ATTICA, AEGINA, Circa 445/4-430 BC.

Near VF with the entire tortoise on the flan which is rare.ġ1029. Aigina minted coins with a smooth-shelled sea turtle design and also produced this scarcer type featuring land tortoises, the latter distinguishable by their segmented shells.