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Sold from our JJFN Ebay store, 3 Dec 2012

Lucania, Velia AR Drachm (3.69g, 18.5g, 6h). Circa 440 – 400 BCE.

Obverse: Head of nymph right, hair arranged in waves.

Reverse: YEΛH. Owl standing right, head facing, on olive spray with two leaves.

References: Williams 180 (O114/R138); HN Italy 1272 (var. right/right); SNG Ashmolean 1147; SGC (v1) 251.

Die matches: Rev (maybe obv), CNG 386-42, later Aegean [Vcoins SKU: 071813] (see also Bertolami EA 44, 91).

Provenance: Ex Colin E. Pitchfork Collection, CNG EA 233 (26 May 2010), 606.3; VAuctions Sale 284 (12 Jul 2012), Lot 10; Jackson & Jacobs Family Numis. (Tucson, AZ, 3 December 2012; ebay item #330831837178)

Notes: Rare type. Example of scarcer, earlier, transitional period style between the older archaic nymph and later depictions on Velian and other Lucanian (important region in southern Italy) coinage, often with tied or diademed hair. (The same is true of the owl on Velian and Lucanian drachm and nomos series, continuing into the 3rd century.) The Velia-Owl drachms continued to be minted throughout the 5th and 4th centuries, with variation in the style over time.

Album: Sold Coins

Categories: Greek Coins

Tags: #Animals #Archaic #Greek #Rare #Silver #Sold

Attica, Aegina (Saronic Gulf Islands) AR Stater (12.19g, 21.5mm, 7h). Circa 480-457 BC
Obverse: Sea turtle, head turned sideways in profile, with trefoil collar and ‘T-back’ design, column of pellets on shell. Banker’s mark: Incuse circle with cross and four sunken compartments.
Reverse: Large incuse skew pattern with five sunken compartments.
References: HGC 6, 435; Meadows Aegina Group IIIa; Milbank period III, pl. 1, 14-15 (cf. 13); SNG Copenhagen 507; SNG Lockett 1970. Banker’s Mark: Milbank Counterstamp 15.
Pedigree: Ex-Nomos AG Obolos 16, Lot 772 (Zurich, 11 Oct 2020)

Numis. & Hist. Notes: Aegina’s classic archaic turtle Staters, probably first struck about 550 BC, were the earliest coins of Europe. They were influenced by the newly developed technology of coinage in Lydia, an ally with whom Aegina had extensive trading experience. The present coin shows a later, distinctively 5th century design.

Date ranges given vary by source (470/65-445/40 BC given by Nomos AG; see also Sheedy 2015). Milbank (1924) and others use 480-457, bracketed by the Battle of Salamis at the end of the Persian Wars, until Athens’ Siege of Aegina, during the Peloponnesian War. (See also Sheedy [2015] for a recent introductory review.)

The Banker’s Mark on this example (Milbank Counterstamp 15) is an interesting complement to the incuse square imagery on the reverse of this series (see additional examples in Leu e-13, 241 [15 Aug 2020] & Elsen 138, 79 [8 Sep 2018]).

See also our later Land Tortoise coinage of Aegina

[Alternate spelling: Aigina.]

Album: All Coins

Categories: Greek Coins

Tags: #Animals #Archaic #Classic #Historic #Showcase #Silver