Freeman & Sear - Gemini I, Session 2

   Lot: 592

   ATTICA: Athens. AD 264-267. AE drachm (4.58 gm).

   ATTICA. Athens. AD 264-267. Bronze drachm (4.58 gm). 
   Bust of Athena right in crested Attic helmet, wearing 
   aegis / [AWH]NAIWN, view of the Acropolis from the 
   northwest, in mirror image, showing from left to right 
   stairway leading to the Propylaea (entrance gate), huge 
   bronze statue of Athena standing, and the Erechtheum; to 
   right of stairway, Cave of Apollo and Grotto of Pan. 
   Svoronos pl. 98, 38-43 (same dies). Highly desirable 
   type. Brown patina. Fine 

   Ex Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, gift of Edward Robinson. 


   The Athenian die engravers under Gallienus correctly 
   copied the Hadrianic-Antoninus view of the Acropolis on 
   a number of dies (Svoronos pl. 98, 30-36), but on this 
   die they mistakenly reversed it, probably the result of 
   copying a die directly from an existing coin. Other 
   changes are that the Propylaea has four rather than only 
   two columns; the masonry of the side wall of the 
   Erechtheum is clearly rendered; and two caves or 
   grottoes, not just one, are shown in the cliff below the 
   Acropolis. 
   Estimated Value: $ 400 


...Sold for $1,000 USD [ approx 760 EUR, 530 GBP ] plus 15% buyers fee. 

Gemini I Auction Closed Jan 11-12, 2005. 

Re-used by permission of Freeman & Sear (www.freemanandsear.com) 
 and Harlan J Berk (www.harlanjberk.com).