425, Lot: 144. Estimate $100. Sold for $320. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ATTICA, Athens. Circa 286/5-280/67 BC. AR Drachm (14mm, 3.99 g, 9h). Helmeted head of Athena right, ‘quadridigité’ palmette on helmet (barely visible) / Owl standing right, head facing; olive sprig and crescent behind; all within incuse square. Kroll 24; HGC 4, 1633. In ANACS encapsilation, 4666354, graded VF 25 (but misattributed as an imitative issue of Philistia). Very rare quadridigité drachm, only four in CoinArchives.

The mid-hellenistic drachms of Athens are quite rare, and very often misattributed due to the palmette being obscured on many specimens. However, there are canonical elements in the reverse style that also can be used to correctly identify these issues. A salient feature on the reverses of pi-style and quadridigité drachms (and tetradrachms) is the A in the ethnic, which is always positioned with the lower left leg obscured behind the owl’s neck. During the quadridigité period, the sides of the A are curved inward, whereas they are straight during the pi-style period.