ELIS. Olympia. 78th-82nd Olympiad, 468-452 BC. Stater (Silver, 25.5 mm, 11.63 g, 8 h). Eagle flying left with both wings above his body, grasping a hare by the belly with his talons and tearing at him with his beak; below, countermark of a six-rayed star within a shaped indent. Rev. Ϝ - Α Thunderbolt with wings above and volutes below. BCD Olympia 20 ( this coin ). Seltman 32 (W/αδ). SNG Berry 810 ( same dies and with the same countermark on the obverse ). SNG Delepierre 2033-2034 ( same dies ). Weber 4005 ( same dies ). Very attractively toned, well-struck and well-centered. Countermarked, otherwise, good very fine.

Acquired from Antiqua in January 2005, from the BCD Collection, Leu Numismatics 90, 10 May 2004, 20, ex Burgan 33, 25 March 1993, 46.

The six-rayed star countermark that appears on this coin, and other roughly contemporary issues from Olympia, must have been applied to all these coins at roughly the same time. It also has the interesting peculiarity of always being very carefully placed to avoid harming the type: generally in the field, far from the design. In fact, the majority of the countermarks found on the coinage of Olympia seem to be placed in this manner, and this strongly suggests that the countermarkers had a great reverence for the symbols of Zeus that appeared on the coins.