|
ISLANDS off ATTICA, Aegina. Circa 525-480 BC. AR Stater (21mm, 12.05 g). Sea turtle, head in profile, with thin collar and row of dots down its back / Incuse square with “Union Jack” pattern. Selinus Hoard 119 (this coin); Asyut Group II; Meadows, Aegina, Group IIa; Milbank pl. I, 3; HGC 6, 428. Toned, slight granularity, die wear on obverse. VF.
From the Tompa Collection. Ex Selinute, 1985 Hoard (CH VIII, 35).
The first coins produced on the island of Aegina depicted a sea turtle (emblematic of the marine interests of the Aeginetans) on the obverse, while bearing on the reverse the imprint of the punch used to force metal into the obverse die. The production of turtles decreased as silver from the island of Siphnos was no longer available and Mediterranean trade was now dominated by Athens, the new mistress of the Aegean. In 457 BC, Athens conquered Aegina and stripped her of her maritime powers. Following the loss of her naval autonomy, Aegina produced staters with a land tortoise on the obverse in lieu of her former emblematic sea turtle. Subsequently in 431 BC, the Aeginetans were expelled from their homeland by the Athenians, only returning after the conclusion of the Peloponnesian War.
The final winners of all CNG Feature Auction 129 lots will be determined during the live online sale that will be held on 13-14 May 2025. This lot is in Session One, which will begin 13 May at 9 AM ET.
Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.
We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers. The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and stable previous version of Chrome and Firefox.
|
