Greek Silver & Bronze Coins

Lot 1744    SESSION 11 (9.30AM THURSDAY 24TH NOV)    Greek Silver & Bronze Coins

Estimate $400
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $320

ATTICA, Athens, base metal silver plated tetradrachm, struck (406-404 B.C.), (14.90 g), BMC 61 (p.7), Sv. pl.15, 12-18, Starr 12 (p.75, pl.XXIII, 12), ANS MN9 pl.II,6-7, pp. 8-13, Sear 2535 (p.237 350), obv. Head of Athena right wearing crested helmet ornamented with three olive leaves and floral scroll, hair is drawn across the forehead in parallel curves, rev. owl standing right, head facing in erect posture, to right A **Q*, E, in large even lettering, olive twig & crescent behind all within incuse square, (S.2535, cf.Kroll, Piraeus 3-54 (for same engraver), Kroll pp. 78, HGC 4, 1690, BMC 61, Svoronos Pl.15, 12-18, Starr 12 [p.75, Pl.XXIII, 12], ANS MN No.9 [Pl.II, 6-7, p.8-13]). Silver plated copper based, some roughness and deposits, otherwise very fine and very rare.

The "grievous coppers" mentioned in Aristophanes have consistently been interpreted as "official" fourrees, struck when the supply of gold was exhausted by 406/5 BC. Numismatists have subsequently attempted to distinguish this official issue from fourrees that were fabricated privately, which are voluminous for the issues of the fifth century. The 1902 discovery of a sizable hoard of plated tetradrachms and drachms at the Athenian port city of Piraeus provided the largest single piece of evidence in support of the theory that the fourrees Aristophanes mentioned were "official" issues, and not private fabrications. Re-examining the issue in 1996, John H. Kroll (Essays Oeconomides, pp. 139-142) argued that while the direct evidence was not conclusive that the "grievous coppers" of Aristophanes were "official" fourrees, no plausible alternative hypothesis existed, and that the identification of the 1902 Piraeus Hoard with the emergency coinage struck in 406/5 BC was very persuasive.