Sale: CNG 63, Lot: 346. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2003.  Sold For $630. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ATTICA, Athens. 406/405 BC. AR Fourré Tetradrachm (15.62 gm). Emergency Issue. Helmeted head of Athena right / Owl standing right, head facing; olive sprig and crescent behind. Starr pl. XXIII, 12. VF, plating mostly intact, porous. Rare and historically important relic of the final days of the Peloponnesian War. ($300)

With the mines at Laurion lost and their treasury depleted by the ruinous cost of the war with Sparta, the Athenians resorted to an emergency issue of plated silver tetradrachms and drachms. These were officially withdrawn from circulation after the government was reestablished in 403/2.