Nomos 12

ATTICA, Athens. Circa 420-405 or very early 4th century. Tetradrachm (Silver, 21mm, 17.20 g 9). Helmeted head of Athena to right. Rev. ΑΘΕ Owl standing right, head facing; behind, olive spray and crescent moon. Cf. Svoronos pls. 17, 24 and 19, 3 and 5. A bold and attractive piece, very nicely centered. Extremely fine.

From the WI Collection, formed in Switzerland over 30 years ago.

This is a very curious, even enigmatic, coin. The obverse is in the usual style of the second half of the 5th century: the helmet palmette is well-made and points towards Athena’s ear. The reverse is, however, rather later: the owl is rather stocky, has very large eyes and one of his talons is raised; the crescent moon is very large and out in the field and not close to the owl’s body. While Athenian silver tetradrachms were, from the mid 5th century through the very early 4th, deliberately kept virtually unchanged in general appearance for commercial reasons, there were some stylistic developments, especially in the way the owl was depicted. The eyes became bigger and the body ever more sausage-shaped. This coin shows a clear mixture between 5th and 4th century styles: it is almost certainly an Athenian product but the possibility that it might be a contemporary imitation made for commercial use cannot be completely excluded.