Nomos 23

ATTICA. Athens. Circa 467-465 BC. Didrachm (Silver, 17.5 mm, 8.48 g, 9 h). Head of Athena to right, wearing crested Attic helmet adorned with three olive leaves and a palmette, a disc earring and a pearl necklace. Rev. ΑΘΕ Owl standing right, with a small, three-pointed tail, feet close together, and a facing head; behind, olive spray; all within a shallow incuse square. Seltman 461 (A312/P395). Starr Group II.C, 73 (O65/R68). Svoronos pl. 8, 25. Very rare - one of only about a dozen Athenian didrachms not held in a public institution. Lovely old toning, and very well-centered. Athena with a complete crest, and perfect centering. Seltman considered this obverse die to be of the best archaic style. Nearly extremely fine.

From the Anabasis Collection, previously in the Boutos Collection, which was amassed in the 1970s and 1980s.

Why did Athens bother issuing didrachms? We have seen that in some cases, certain Sicilian cities very, very rarely produced Attic weight didrachms (like Leontini and Syracuse) while others, like Segesta, only issued them. The only time that Athens produced a relatively significant number of didrachms was during the 6th century, with the Wappenmünzen coinage. The present issue, produced in the 460s, was undoubtedly produced to enable the state to make pay-outs in multiples of 10 drachms: they could either use dekadrachms or, of course, two tetradrachms and a conveniently available didrachm.