Attica, Athens.   Tetradrachm circa 510-500, AR 17.10 g. Head of Athena r., wearing crested Attic helmet and disc earring. Rev. AΘΕ Owl standing l. with closed wings, head facing; in upper r. field, crescent. All within incuse square. Svoronos pl. 7, 13 (this coin). Seltman 288a (this coin).
Extremely rare, the only specimen known from this die couple and the first Athenian
issue with the owl reverse. An issue of tremendous importance and fascination
with a magnificent portrait of excellent Archaic style struck in very high
relief. Wonderful old cabinet tone, a die break on obverse,
otherwise about extremely fine

Ex Leu-M&M 28 May 1974, Kunstfreund, 26 and Leu 76, 1999, 119 sales. Privately purchased on the 10th of May 2011. From the Gotha and Salvesen collections.
In 561 BC, the traditional constitution of archaic Athens was subverted by Peisistratos, the son of Hippokrates, who established himself as popular tyrant in the city. Hippias, his son and successor to the Athenian tyranny (527-510 BC) also enjoyed much popularity at the start of his rule, but this fell apart after the Athenian youths Harmodios and Aristogeiton assassinated his brother. Hippias arrested and executed the famous tyrannicides and then embarked on a series of repressive measures to prevent opposition in Athens. His increasingly friendly relationship with the Persians and the agitation of the exiled Athenian noble family of the Alkmaionidai ultimately brought Spartan intervention. In 510 BC, Kleomenes I invaded Attica at the head of a Spartan army and compelled Hippias to flee to Persia, thereby ending the line of Peisistratid tyrants at Athens. In the aftermath of Hippias’ expulsion from the city, Kleomenes attempted to establish a Spartan-friendly oligarchic government in Athens, but this was strongly resisted by the Kleisthenes, a leading member of the Alkmaionid. A revolution ensued in which Kleomenes and the oligarchs were expelled and in 508 BC Kleisthenes instituted a series of constitutional reforms to establish Athens as a radical democracy. Many of his reforms were aimed at undermining the traditional influence of powerful noble families and regional interests. These included the introduction of sortition as the means of filling public offices rather than heredity or kinship and the replacement of patronymics (names of fathers) with demonymics (names of voting tribes) in naming formulae. By these means, he began to create a true Athenian identity for citizens at large in place of the divisive family and regional identities that had previously prevailed. This tetradrachm was produced at the very same time that the Kleisthenic democratic revolution was taking place in Athens and perfectly represents the new social and political developments in the city. Previously, coinage at Athens had been largely dominated by the so-called Wappenmünzen-coins struck with a multiplicity of types thought to represent the badges of powerful Athenian families. On this coin however, we have one of the earliest uses of the Athenian civic types that were ultimately destined to be recognized and welcomed through the Mediterranean world until they were at last superseded by the types of Alexander the Great in the 330s BC. The obverse head of Athena is in a wonderful Archaic style featuring a widely opened almond-shaped eye while the reverse type betrays its early date by several differences between it and by the subsequently established reverse type for Athenian tetradrachms. Here the owl stands to the left whereas on all later official tetradrachms the familiar bird of Athena always stands to the right. Likewise, in the right field there is a very prominent crescent whereas on most Archaic issues struck before the Persian invasion of Greece (480-479 BC) the crescent is replaced by an olive spray. Later issues, combine a reduced olive spray with a small crescent in the field. Thus the present coin should be seen as an extremely rare prototype for one of the most famous coinages of the ancient Greek world-the Athenian owl tetradrachm.