Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Anthony, post: 2200140, member: 42773&quot;]These are electrum Hekte of Lesbos. They copy the iconography of the Athenian owls, but they are not Athenian. Athenian gold is extremely extremely rare. Did I mention extremely? The Athenians only minted gold during the monetary crisis at the end of the Peloponessian War (beginning of the 5th century BC), after the Spartans cut off their silver supply at Laurion. In order to raise money for defense, Athenian authorities ordered the melting of all gold, which included seven statues of Nike, and the minting of gold coins. Fouree silver was also officially minted at this time.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=132469" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=132469" rel="nofollow">Triton XII, Lot 246</a> is one of the few pieces of Athenian gold I&#039;ve come across, which sold for a cool $67,000 before buyer&#039;s fees. The write up on this coin is worth reading as it references Aristophanes&#039; diatribe against the emergency coinage in <i>The Frogs</i>.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]428505[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in