Islands off Attica, Aegina. Silver Stater (12.16 g), ca. 550-530/25 BC. Sea turtle, head in profile, with thin collar and row of dots down its back. Reverse: Incuse square with proto-"Union Jack" pattern. Meadows grp. Ia; cf. Milbank pl. I, 3. Early Archaic issue with smooth shell sea turtle. Struck in high relief and delicately toned. A choice example. Choice Very Fine. Estimated Value $500 - UP
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 Aeginetan "turtle" - the popular name given to the stater on account of its obverse type - was a staple of trade throughout the Aegean during the Archaic and early Classical periods. The simple and graceful outline of the turtle's shell is attractive and inspired imitation and modification at other cities, most notably at Orchomenos in Boiotia, where the turtle became a sprouting barleycorn with the hard kernel of the grain taking the place of the turtle shell. 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 approx. 12 g to the didrachm stater lived on as the preferred standard for many civic coinages of the Peloponnesos and northern Greece.
From the Century Collection, with a sticker from an old pre-2000 Sotheby's sale.