Sale: CNG 67, Lot: 576. Estimate $750.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 September 2004.  Sold For $750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ATTICA, Athens. Circa 230-180 BC. AR Tetradrachm (17.16 gm). Helmeted head of Athena right, wearing crested Attic helmet / Owl standing right, head facing; olive sprig and crescent behind; all within an incuse square. Nicolet-Pierre & Kroll, "Athenian Tetradrachm Coinage of the Third Century B.C.," AJN 2 (1990), -; cf. Svoronos, Athènes pl. 23, 5; SNG Copenhagen -. Good VF, broad flan for issue. Rare. ($750)

In their AJN article, Nicolet-Pierre & Kroll develop a chronological order for the late Athenian coinage, based primarily on style, fabric, and metrology. This particular coin appears to share a number of stylistic elements with the later groups, E and F, in their study. The peculiar style of the upward-facing palmette and the absence of the roll of hair that should be present below the neck-guard of the helmet, though, separates it from these groups, and may even imply that it is an imitative issue. If imitative, the fabric and style suggests it would be from Asia Minor rather than Egypt, Syria, or Palestine.