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Bermondsey Coins

Greek, Attica, Athens, silver diobol, c. 460s BC, eastern imitation (?), very rare

Greek, Attica, Athens, silver diobol, c. 460s BC, eastern imitation (?), very rare

Regular price £240.00 GBP
Regular price Sale price £240.00 GBP
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Greek, Attica, Athens, silver diobol, c. 454-404 BC, eastern imitation (?). Athena facing right, wearing helmet with aplmette and olive leaves/Owl standing right, head facing, ethnic to right, olive branch and olive behind. 1.27 g. 


VF+, struck from worn dies on an irregular flan. Very rare. 

From a small parcel of five coins of Athenian types, bought by an English collector from Associated Arts on 6 March 1968; from their March 1968 list, no. 12. 

Several pieces of the same issue as this coin have been offered in auction recently: 

UBS 57 (15 September 2003), lot 222 (as Athens); 
Hess-Divo e1 (23 July 2013), lot 36 (as Athens); 
DNW 22 September 2014, lot 3462 (as Athens, same obverse die, dfifferent reverse die as this piece); 
Noble Numismatics 111 (5 April 2016), lot 4517 (as Bactria, and as a hemidrachm, weight reportedly 1.94 g; same dies as this piece)
Roma Numismatics e27 (28 May 2016), lot 112 (as "Eastern Imitation", same obverse die, different reverse die to this piece)  

The first three coins were catalogued as "SNG Copenhagen 49". However, the Danish museum coin has two owls on the reverse, as you would expect from a diobol. The present issue is in fact lacking from any major reference. It is likely that this coin was struck in an irregular mint in Anatolia or further East, where the types of Athens were simply a good mark of a quality coin; hence more than one denomination being struck from the same dies. The prototype is unlikely to be a mass coinage coin given the style of the owl, but more likely an issue of Starr Group V; compare Starr plate XXIV, v. 
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