331, Lot: 23. Estimate $200. Sold for $3500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ATTICA, Athens. Circa 515-510 BC. Halved Fourrée Tetradrachm (24mm, 6.68 g, 2h). “Wappenmünzen”. Facing gorgoneion / Facing panther head with paws, within incuse square. Asyut 260; cf. Seltman Group K, 324-5 (especially dies A211/P269 and P270); SNG Copenhagen –. VF, cut in half, revealing the bronze core.

"Wappenmünzen" ("Blazon money") is a German term used to describe the earliest coinage of Athens. Although modern scholars have convincingly demonstrated that Seltman's hypothesis that Wappenmünzen types represent the coats-of-arms of Athens' leading families is incorrect, numismatic cataloguers have been hard-pressed to find a more suitable designation to describe the series.