Greek Silver & Bronze

Lot 2622       Greek Silver & Bronze

Estimate $250
Bid at live.noble.com.au

ATTICA, Aegina, (510-500 B.C.), silver stater, (11.414 grams), obv. smoothed shell sea turtle without row of dots down dorsal spine, rev. 'Union Jack pattern', (S.1849 [£350], Asyut Group IIb 'probably a thick collar type', cf.432-437, SNG Delepierre 1559). Fine - very fine, worn obverse die.

The Asyut hoard suggests the chronology to be 510-485 B.C. This and the next four lots are a group showing the change in reverse punches in the early 5th century at Aegina. Much has been written on this early coinage since Samuel Millbank wrote his book on 'The Coinage of Aegina' in 1924. Since then important publications all trying to establish the order of issue and the chronolgy of this series have been published, generally around the description of a relevant hoard. They include W.L. Brown 'Pheidons Alleged Aeginetan Coinage' (NC 1950, pp.177-204); R. Ross Holloway, 'An Archaic Hoard From Crete and the Early Aeginetan Coinage' in ANS Museum Notes 17 (1971, pp.1-21, written based on his doctoral dissertation [The Elder Turtles of Aegina, 1960, Princeton University]); Price and Waggoner, 'Archaic Greek Silver Coinage, The 'Asyut' Hoard', pp.69-76; Carmen Arnold-Biucchi et al., 'A Greek Archaic Silver Hoard from Selinus' ANS Museum Notes pp.14-22. The chronology is still under review and new hoards when published all go closer to the truth sometimes departing from the current view. Eg. Colin Kraay in ACGC (p.43-4) places the small skew reverse coinage (Asyut Group VII) to around 500 B.C. in contrast to our dating of 490-475 B.C. The reference to SNG Delepierre in this and the next four lots is relevant as that publication illustrates 298 staters from Aegina, known as the Megalopolis Hoard, now in the Paris cabinet from 1966. It was buried about 431 B.C.