ATTICA, Athens. Circa 454-404 BC. AR Tetradrachm (22mm, 17.18 g, 11h). Head of Athena right, with frontal eye, wearing earring, necklace, and crested Attic helmet decorated with three olive leaves over visor and a spiral palmette on the bowl / Owl standing right, head facing; olive spray and crescent to left, AΘE to right; all within incuse square. Starr pl. XXIII, 1’–3’; Kroll 8; HGC 4, 1597; Dewing 1593; Gulbenkian 518. Faintly toned, underlying luster, a little die wear on obverse. EF. Well centered. Early post-454 issue.
The certain elements of the style of this tetradrachm, particularly the palmette on Athena’s helmet and the stance of the owl, suggest that this coin was among the earliest issues in the ubiquitous “frontal eye”/classical tetradrachms of the mid-late 5th century at Athens, as these features more closely resemble those found on the later groups of early-mid 5th century issues analyzed by Chester Starr.
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