Attica, Athens
Tetradrachm, Civic mint circa 510-500/490, AR 17.09 g. Head of Athena r., wearing crested Attic helmet and disc earring. Rev. AΘΕ Owl standing r. with closed wings, head facing; in upper l. field, olive-twig. All within incuse square. Svoronos pl. 6, 22-23 (these dies). Seltman 302d (this coin). Cahn, Münzkunde und Archäologie 1975, p. 94, fig. 5a (this coin). Gillet 937 (this coin).
Very rare and in exceptional condition for this very interesting issue, one of the
earliest owls of the Athenian series. A portrait of magnificent style struck
in high relief on a very broad flan and with a light old cabinet tone.
Minor areas of weakness, otherwise about extremely fine

Ex Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge 5 July 1910, Warren, 13 and M&M Leu 28 May 1974, Kunstfreund, 25, Sotheby's 19 June 1990, Hunt part I, 58 sales. sales. From the Charles Gillet and Harald Salvesen collections.
The introduction of the Athenian ”owl” tetradrachm in the late sixth century BC and its establishment of its types as the unchanging emblems of Athens in the early fifth century BC marked an historical watershed. Thanks to the production of the ”owls” from silver mined locally at Laurion in Attica, Athens was able to finance the construction of the fleet that permitted the evacuation of the city when the Persians advanced into Greece and brought the Athenians victory at the battle of Salamis in 480 BC. The coins also helped pay for the reconstruction of Athens once the Persians departed. Without the ”owls” it is far from clear that Athens would have survived the calamity so well. Once Athens was back on its feet, the owls became a tool for bringing the Greek war of revenge to the Persian Empire by financing the development of both the fleet and the Athenian-led Delian League. Through the league membership, Athens established a great naval empire in the Aegean. By 447 BC all members were required to use Athenian coinage, which spread the owls even further afield. Through interactions with Athens and its allies as well as with Greek mercenaries desirous of payment in coin that was recognised just about everywhere in their homeland, the Athenian tetradrachm became familiar (and was frequently imitated) even in territories of Persian satraps and among the peoples of the ancient Near East. By the time Alexander the Great began the conquest of the Persian Empire in 336 BC and was considering an imperial coinage policy of his own, the Athenian owl had been an international currency for more than a century. It was truly one of the great success stories of ancient Greek coinage.