ISLANDS OFF ATTICA, Aegina. Circa 525-480 BC. Stater (Silver, 20 mm, 11.70 g). Sea turtle; flattened by overstriking with a die bearing a globe, a flower and uncertain tower-like object; in the field to right, ancient countermark. Rev. Incuse square with mill-sail pattern; over struck with flat die bearing the inscription, in modern Greek letters, ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΩΝ ΖΙΟ(?)... For the coin:cf. Asyut IIIa, 471; Milbank Period I; SNG Delepierre 1514; the overstriking types are unknown. This is a very, very weird coin! For a discussion see below. Countermark: about very fine; coin: about fine.

From the Dr. Paul Peter Urone Collection, ex Classical Numismatic Group 90, 23 May 2012, 545 ($2000) and from the collection of Hans Holzer, Superior 7 December 1972, 142.

In some ways this coin is a real triumph of form over substance; and of provenance over reality! Back in 2012, the CNG cataloguer, in a massively understated comment about the overstruck insription, wrote "...the letter forms of the overstrike seem significantly later in character, compared to the early date of the coin." Very perceptive (!), given that the lettering looks about 2500 years later than the coin!! It seems that everyone involved with this coin - at Superior and CNG - were so bedazzled by the reputation of its previous owner, the "ghost hunter" and paranormal investigator Hans Holzer (for him, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Holzer; Holzer was famous for writing about what became known as the Amityville Horror), that they too became possessed, and lost all sense of proportion! What this must actually be is a rather worn Aeginetan stater of the late 6th century BC, which was, probably during the fourth quarter of the 19th century CE, reused to test strike a trade token of some kind!!! The collector of such Hellenic ephemera will probably be able to identify just what it is. Good luck!!