Sale: CNG 79, Lot: 242. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 17 September 2008.  Sold For $760. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ATTICA, Athens. Circa 460-404 BC. AR Tetradrachm (17.04 g, 7h). Struck circa 440-420 BC. Helmeted head of Athena right / Owl standing right, head facing; olive sprig and crescent behind; all within incuse square. Flament group II, 5/a; Kroll 8; SNG Copenhagen 31. VF, light porosity.

With the present catalog, CNG has adopted a dating scheme for Athens that reflects the current consensus of numismatic scholars. Chester Starr had placed the beginning of the "archaized" issues of Athens circa 449 BC, but analysis of hoards -- including finds within archaeological contexts -- has conclusively shown that the “archaized” issues must have started around ten years earlier, and accordingly the last transitional owl series (Starr’s group V) must have ended around 460 BC. For more details on the research leading to this re-dating, see J.H. Kroll, The Greek Coins. The Athenian Agora, vol. XXVI (Princeton, 1993), and C. Flament, Le monnayage en argent d’Athènes. De l’époque archaïque à l’époque hellénistique (c. 550-c. 40 av. J.-C.) (Lovain-la-Neuve, 2007).