ATTICA. Athens. Circa 500/490-485/0 BC. Obol (Silver, 9 mm, 0.65 g, 11 h). Helmeted head of Athena to right, with the full crest visible. Rev. AΘE Owl standing to right, head facing the viewer; to left, olive leaf; all within incuse square. BMFA 1042. HGC 4, 1659. Seltman p. 171 and pl. XXII, δ. SNG Soutzos 678. Svoronos, Trésor, pl. 2, 13-15. Very rare. Remarkably well-preserved, especially the reverse, toned and attractive. Obverse slightly weakly struck and with a die break, otherwise, extremely fine.

From the "Collection sans Pareille" of Ancient Greek Fractions, ex Leu Numismatics 72, 12 May 1998, 207 and from the collection of V.M. Brand, 3, Sotheby's 9 June 1983, 76.

This is a strangely spectacular coin! The obverse ought to come from the series struck in the later 480s - see, especially, the three pieces illustrated by Svoronos and comparable drachms drachms on Seltman's plate (XXII, α-γ) - with the olive branch on the reverse replaced by a single leaf, but is it? Despite the die break, the head of Athena seems much finer than those on the cited pieces, the broad flan harks back to the earlier issues of c. 500, and the owl is beautifully engraved. Thus, in 1996 the late S. Hurter dated this to c. 510: could she be right, as she so often was?