Lot 1067
Islands off Attica, Aegina. Silver Stater (12.10 g), ca. 480-457 BC. Sea turtle, head turned to left in profile, with pelleted-T design on shell. Rev. Large incuse square with skew pattern composed of five sunken compartments. (Meadows grp. Iiia; Milbank pl. I, 14-5; SNG Delepierre 1522; Dewing 1674). Well struck in high relief and toned. Choice very fine. Estimate $1,250UP
One ancient tradition held that king Pheidon of Argos was the first Greek ruler to strike coins on Aegina, presumably because the island city was already a maritime trading powerhouse even before coined money was introduced to Greece proper. The coinage of Aegina became a tool for the island's international trade and its types became so well recognized that the coins were frequently just referred to as "turtles." Although Aegina was conquered by Athens in 456 BC and its inhabitants expelled on the eve of the of the Peloponnesian War in 431, thereby ending production of the turtles, the Aeginetic weight standard of ca. 12.1 g to the didrachm stater lived on as the preferred standard for many civic coinages of the Peloponnesos and Northern Greece. Try as they might, even the Athenians could not fully erase the old influence of Aegina.
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| Realized $1,357 |
