179, Lot: 107. Estimate $500. Sold for $410. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

UNCERTAIN EAST. 4th century BC. AR Tetradrachm (21mm, 16.71 g). Imitating Athens. Helmeted head of Athena right / Owl standing right; crescent behind. Cf. Svoronos, Athènes pl. 20, 8; P. van Alfen, “The ‘owls’ from the 1989 Syria hoard,” AJN 14 (2002), 92-97. Good VF, toned.

This tetradrachm illustrates the influence that the Athenian "owl" had on eastern coinage. From Egypt to Babylon and from Syria to Arabia the Athenian tetradrachm was either countermarked or imitated for local use. The imitations increasingly varied f