ATHENS WAPPENMUNZEN SILVER OBOL – SCARAB ISSUE ILLUSTRATED IN HGC – VF NGC GRADED GREEK ATTICA COIN (Inv. 20560)

$5,000.00

20560. ATTICA. ATHENS. Ca. 545-520/10 BC.
Silver Obol, Wappenmünzen Series, 0.69 g, 9 mm. Issue of 545-515 BC.
Obv. Scarab beetle. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square.
HGC 4, 1649 (this coin illustrated); Svoronos, pl. 1, nos. 39-40.
Ex Merrill Gibson Collection, ex Stack’s Bowers, 1/14/2008, lot 2178.
NGC graded VF, Strike 4/5, Surface 4/5, HGC plate coin status noted on label.

The use of the scarab beetle as a type reflects the northwestern movement of Egyptian iconography through trade. Scarab beetles had previously appeared on electrum fractions struck at an uncertain Ionian mint in the first half of the sixth century BC.