GREEK, Egypt, 420 - 380 BC, AR Tetradrachm (Athens owl imitative)

Obv:– Head of Athena right, droopy eye, crested helmet with olive leaves and bent-back palmette, wire necklace, round earring, hair in parallel curves.
Rev:– AΘE, right, owl standing right, head facing, erect in posture, olive sprig and crescent left, all within incuse square;
Minted in Egypt from . B.C. 420 - 380.
Reference:– cf. SNG Cop 31 ff., SGCV I 2526 (Athens),
ex-Forum. From the Harald Ulrik Sverdrup Collection. Ex CNG. From a small hoard of 5 Athenian and 4 Athenian imitative issues.

Athenian tetradrachms with this droopy eye and bent back palmette have been identified as Egyptian imitative issues because they are most frequently found in Egypt and rarely in Greece.

Early in his reign the Egyptian Pharaoh Hakor, who ruled from 393 to 380 B.C., revolted against his overlord, the Persian King Artaxerxes. In 390 B.C. Hakor joined a tripartite alliance with Athens and King Evagoras of Cyprus. Persian attacks on Egypt in 385 and 383 were repulsed by Egyptian soldiers and Greek mercenaries under the command of the Athenian general Chabrias. Perhaps these coins were struck to pay the general and his Greek mercenaries.

The metal did not fill the die completley on the obverse resulting in the rough flat high area near Athena's temple. A test cut on the reverse was filled with pitch in antiquity.

17.157g, 25.3mm, 270o