ISLANDS OFF ATTICA, Aegina. Circa 525-480 BC. Stater (Silver, 19 mm, 12.22 g). Sea turtle seen from above, head in profile; on carapace, banker's mark: owl standing right, head facing, within incuse. Rev. Square incuse with 'proto-skew' pattern. Asyut Group VIb, 521-32. HGC 6, 433. Meadows, Aegina, Group IIb. SNG Copenhagen 502. Nicely toned and with a wonderful Athenian banker's mark. Light scratches on the reverse, otherwise, fine.



The distinctive feature of this rather heavily worn coin is the small punch mark on the turtle’s shell, which takes the shape of an Athenian owl. At the time, there was intense rivalry between the island polis of Aegina and mainland Athens, and although the punch mark was likely of private rather than official origin, the countermarking of the Aeginetan turtle with the Athenian owl symbolically reflects the political and economic power shift. This transition, which began in the late 6th and especially in the early 5th century BC, originating from mainland Attica, would ultimately change world history forever, paving the way for Athens to rise as the dominant military, economic, and cultural power in the eastern Mediterranean during the Greco-Persian Wars.