Exquisite “Wappenmünzen” Didrachm
ATTICA, Athens. Circa 545-525/15 BC. AR Didrachm (18.5mm, 8.49 g). “Wappenmünzen” series. Facing gorgoneion / Diagonally divided quadripartite incuse punch. Seltman 83d (“A56/P63”); Svoronos pl. 1, 62 (same dies); Asyut –; HGC 4, 1616; SNG München 18; Traité I 1057 (Eretria, same rev. punch). EF. Exceptional metal. Very rare and among the finest known.
"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.
There appears to be some confusion in Seltman’s arrangement of the dies and punches for the Gorgon series. P62 and P63 are the same punch, only at different stages. Meanwhile, 83b, held in Berlin and illustrated by Svoronos, is clearly from a different obverse and possibly reverse die as 83d, illustrated in SNG München.
