The New Style Coinage of Athens

Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 1212. Estimate $750.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $1100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ATTICA, Athens. Circa 165-42 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.84 g, 12h). New Style coinage. Struck circa 165-150/49 BC. Helmeted head of Athena right / Owl standing right, head facing, on amphora; monogram to left, monogram and caps of the Dioskouroi to right; all within wreath. Thompson 57 (same obv. die); Svoronos, Monnaies pl. 37, 2 (same obv. die); SNG Copenhagen 115. Near EF, toned. Rare early issue.

Around 165 BC, Athens introduced a new series of precious metal coinage. Colloquially called the “New Style Coinage” today, it represented a revolution in the coinage of Athens. Although it remained essentially an Athena/Owl type, this new coinage broke from the traditional, more archaic-style devices employed on the previous three centuries of Athenian coinage. The obverse now depicts the Athena Parthenos of Pheidias, wearing her triple-crested Attic helmet adorned on its visor with the foreparts of four or more horses, and a flying Pegasos on the bowl. On the reverse, the owl was now shown standing on a horizontal amphora, with an elaborate array of magistrates’ names, symbols, and other letters in the surrounding fields. The entirety of the reverse was enclosed within a large olive wreath. These new depictions were largely facilitated by the coins’ innovative flans that were far more broad, offering a larger canvas for the celator to fill. Unlike the previous two centuries, this coinage was produced on a large scale, as attested by its abundance in hoards. This uptick is generally attributed to Athens’ recovery of the port of Delos in 166 BC. As with the fifth century issues, this New Style Coinage became an important and respected coinage in international trade, being found today at sites throughout the Mediterranean area, and was also imitated at a number of cities. The series reached its apogee in the early first century BC, but went into steep decline following Sulla’s capture of Athens in the spring of 86 BC. Until then, the coins were produced in an unbroken annual sequence, but were now relegated to a few disconnected, sporadic issues that ultimately came to an end in the 40s BC.