Attica, Athens
Tetradrachm, uncertain mint in Asia Minor or Levante circa 520, AR 17.47 g. Helmeted head of Athena l. Rev. AΘΕ Owl standing r., with closed wings, head facing; behind, olive sprig. All within incuse square. For a l. facing Athens tetradrachm cf. NAC sale 11, 1998, 63. Of the highest rarity. A very intriguing and interesting issue struck on sound metal and with a light iridescent tone. Obverse slightly off-centre, otherwise about extremely fine For a coinage that might appear straight-forward at first glance, there are some thorny debates associated with the issues of Athens. Some of the greatest points of contention include the chronology of the heraldic ”wappenmünzen,” the ”owl-type” tetradrachms of the Archaic period, the decadrachms, and the ”new style” owls of the Hellenistic Age. The date for the introduction of the ”owl” tetradrachm has been subject to wide-ranging views that have evolved significantly over the last century. Barclay Head, publishing in the late 19th Century suggested the period c.594/90-527/25 B.C.; J. Svoronos, whose work on Athens was published posthumously in 1923, narrowed that period to c.594-560; and Charles Seltman, in his 1924 corpus, favoured a slightly later date beginning in c.561. Their views incorporated the idea that Athenian coinage was introduced by Solon, who became Archon of Athens in 594/3. This was based upon literary references of Aristotle and Plutarch to payments that subsequently have been read with less accepting eyes. These texts are not definitive, and as Melville Jones notes in the second volume of his Testimonia Numaria: ”...we must assume either that these payments were made in drachma weights of silver or, more probably, that the texts of these laws were modified or enlarged at a later date, or even falsely attributed to Solon to give them greater authority”. Since the 1960s there has been a spate of research conducted on Athenian coinage which has benefited from new and significant hoard evidence, that has been studied in a scientific manner. Consequently, Wallace argued for 510 B.C., upon the overthrow of Hippias; Starr, in his seminal work of 1970, suggested the first owls were struck c.525; Kraay favoured a date no later than c.520; and Kroll proposed sometime between 520 and 510. Whether as early as 525 or as late as 512, by which time Athens had lost its Pangaean mine to the Persians, the modern consensus is that the first owls – including the present coin – were introduced by Hippias, who ruled as tyrant of Athens from 527 to 510 B.C.