ATTICA. Athens. Circa 430s-420s BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 25 mm, 15.46 g, 9 h), a contemporary plated imitation. Head of Athena to right, wearing crested Attic helmet decorated with three olive leaves and palmette. Rev. AΘE Owl standing right, head facing; to left, olive sprig and crescent; all within incuse square. Cf. Kroll 8 and Svoronos pls. 12-13 passim (for prototype). A fascinating plated issue. Breaks in plating and with two test cuts on the reverse, otherwise, nearly very fine.


While plating coins was a relatively ubiquitous phenomenon in Antiquity, this coin goes one step further by also having a fake test cut on the reverse. The upper test cut was applied to the base metal core and silvered along with the whole coin. Someone did not fail to notice the deception, however, and a second test cut was applied at some point, revealing the non-precious interior.