CNG 87, Lot: 469. Estimate $500. Sold for $575. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISLANDS off ATTICA, Aegina. Circa 510-490 BC. AR Stater (17mm, 12.26 g). Tortoise with “T-back” form of pellets and “trefoil” collar / Incuse square of “proto-skew” pattern. Asyut Group VI; SNG Copenhagen -; HGC 6, -; Dewing 1673. VF, toned, a couple digs in field on obverse, a little off center.

This early stater belongs to a group that is defined by the unusual appearance of the shell. Unlike most of the early Aegina issues, where the forelegs protrude from the straight upper edge of the shell, the forelegs here protrude from two semicircular cut-outs. Numismatists have designated this design as a "trefoil collar" shell, and separate the coins of this group into two series. The first series, simply called the "trefoil collar" series, have shells with a line of pellets running down its spine. The second series, called the "T-back with trefoil collar" series, have shells as the previous series, but with the addition of two pellets flanking the central pellet below the collar, which give the appearance of a dotted "T" shape on the back of the shell. It is apparent, though, that there are no actual “trefoil” collars without the distinctive “T-back” form of pellets--the distinction had been made by viewing examples that were too worn to show the two side pellets at the top (cf. Holloway, Archaic pl. VI, 3 and 14). Dewing 1673 is illustrative in debunking this distinction, as even thought the cataloger calls the coin “trefoil collar,” one can just make out the side pellet just to the left of center below the collar. The present coin offers another example. Furthermore, in the earlier distinction, only the “trefoil” and “heavy” collar staters are supposed to be combined with “proto-skew” reverses. By the time that the “T-back” pellet form is established, the reverse is supposed to be a well-formed, regular large skew form incuse. The present coin, however, clearly is a “T-back” tortoise combined with a “proto-skew” reverse. In sum, all of the tortoises with this distinctive shell should be distinguished as "T-back with trefoil collar" types, and the series was long-lasting, spanning both the "proto-skew" and regular skew reverse types.